Wanted: Mother
by Kawaii Selene
Summary: To earn enough money for college, Kinomoto Sakura has been trying different jobs. But then she recieves a very unusual offer from Syaoran Li- to be his son's mother! How can she continue as a professional when her job needs her to be personal?
1. Mommy!

**Author's Note: ** Ahhhhh! Finally, I can start typing this story. I was so bombarded with deadlines before that I couldn't even find the time to type this. How annoying!

**Chibi Syaoran: ** _You're _ annoyed? How do you think _I_ feel? Your fic is way overdue!

**Kawaii Authoress: ** Hai, hai. Gomen, gomen. So, now, without further ado, I give you the following information:

**Disclaimer: ** NOOOOOOOO! That word should be considered a foul word! What a cruel, cruel word it is. I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura! –wails in one corner- And, I also don't own McDonald's. Obviously, I do not own the Oscars... I wish I did, though…

**Summary: ** To earn enough money for college, Kinomoto Sakura has been trying different jobs. When she recieves a very unusual offer from Syaoran Li, to be his son's mother! How can she continue as a professional when her job needs her to be personal?

**Legend: ** "speech" 'thought' _dreaming_

**Chibi Heero: ** I thought you were going to start the fic! –aims gun at the poor cute authoress-

**Kawaii Authoress: ** I'm sorry! I had to put the Disclaimer or someone might sue me! (dodges the gun) OKAY! OKAY! START THE BLASTED FIC BEFORE HE KILLS ME! 

**Chapter 1: Mommy**

_In the middle of a beautiful garden, a tall tree stood proudly. A young mother and her child were playing hide and seek. The young boy had deep gray hair and eyes and had been dressed in a black uniform that closely resembled a sailor suit. His mother, on the other hand, had long, curly auburn hair. Her laughing eyes were hidden by her bangs, and she wore a long white gown with draping sleeves._

"Mommy, I found you!" The little gray-haired boy cried, jumping up and down in excitement. His mother laughed sweetly and caught him in her arms. She lifted him up and began to spin, her dress flying about her legs and her son giggling madly.

The two continued to play and laugh and love in the sunshine-filled garden. It was without a doubt an endearing scene; a mommy and her baby experiencing life together. The mother set her child down and covered his eyes as he squirmed. But when the trees, the bushes, the flowers, the squirrels – everything became covered with shadows, the scene was not quite so wonderful as before.

The young boy felt the hands slip away from his eyes and gawked at his surroundings, stunned at the swift change from play area to darkness. "Mommy?" he squeaked, fear in his tone, and looked around. He caught a glimpse of auburn hair from the corner of his eye and turned to see his mother fleeing away from him.

"Mommy! Wait for me!" He raced after her, grinning, believing it to be a new game. But when his mother didn't stop, didn't turn and pick him up and kiss him while laughing, he became truly frightened and grabbed for the trim on her gown. His fingers clutched only empty air as he tripped and sprawled on the ground. When he looked up again, his mother was gone.

He was alone... 

"Mommy!" wailed the child, tears welling up in his eyes. "Mommy, come back!"

"CUT!" The director shouted, frustration in his eyes. He glared in the direction of the child. "Somebody, get that kid off of my set! He's ruining the most important shot!"

"Yamato, you're scaring him." The famous actor Syaoran Li released the hands of the woman before him and strode to his crying son. He lifted the four–year–old into his arms and rubbed his son's back. "Sssh, Yukito, it's okay. Go back to sleep," he soothed.

"My apologies, Li–sama," sighed Yamato. "I didn't mean to scare him; I just want to complete this film. With an Oscar–winning actor like you for the leading role, my movie is bound to win an Oscar for Best Picture." Stars shone in the director's eyes. "Maybe I'll even win Best Director, and of course, Li–sama, you will receive Best Actor once more..." he trailed off and frowned when he realized Syaoran was not listening, and waved a hand. "Five minute break, everyone."

"Daddy, I miss Mommy. When can she come home?" Yukito asked, looking up at his father with imploring eyes.

Syaoran's heart twisted. Yukito's mother had died when the boy was only two. Therefore, Yukito's memories of her were vague at best, but he still missed her desperately. He was still too young to understand the concept of actual death, and often thought his mother had merely left him. The young actor thought hard and finally said, "Mommy's on a long trip, sweetheart. She won't be coming home for a long, long time."

To Yukito's child–like mind, a "long, long time" wasn't really very long at all. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that his mother would be returning soon. The small child even knew how he would know her – although he did not remember his mother well, he easily recalled her tumbling auburn curls because they had been his mother's pride and joy. She had brushed her hair for exactly one hundred strokes every night, and often had allowed him to help. Yukito wondered if, when his mommy returned, she would let him brush her hair again.

"Syaoran, I think Yukito's just getting bored. Why don't I take him over to the amusement park?"

"Thanks, Meiling. I think Yukito would like that." Syaoran set his son on the floor. Yukito grabbed his aunt's (1) hand firmly in his own and smiled up at her.

"Ooooh! You're so kawaii!" Meiling cooed, eyes sparkling as she led her nephew out to the car.

"Bye, Daddy!" Yukito called, waving. Syaoran chuckled and waved back. As the car drove away, his expression darkened. Would Yukito ever get over the loss of his mother? 

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS 

"Oto–san! Onii–san and I are leaving for the amusement park now! Byyyyyyyye!" Kinomoto Sakura waved enthusiastically towards her father with one hand. The other she wrapped firmly around her brother's waist as he revved up the motorcycle.

"So, Onii–san, what will I be doing at the amusement park today?" asked the energetic teenager with a brilliant smile.

"You'll be handling out balloons to kids."

"What! But that's Aiko's job! I don't want to wear a big penguin costume. It's too hot for that!"

"Stop complaining, kaijuu," Kinomoto Touya replied with exasperation. "At least we gave you a job."

"Why can't I get a job like yours?" she complained. "I mean, yours is in an office and you get a way higher salary! Not fair!"

Touya pretended that he had not heard his baby sister because of the wind. In reality, he did not want to admit that the reason Sakura could not get the same job was because she was only a High School graduate, while Touya had a college degree. Touya had tried to help her earn enough money to send her to college, but he had a family of his own and his son, Eriol, was just about to enter pre–school, which didn't leave a lot of extra money laying around.

"Oi, kaijuu, we're here!"

"Stop calling me a kaijuu!"

"Oh, right, I almost forgot, you're a penguin today!"

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS 

Meiling clutched Yukito's hand tightly as they entered the packed amusement park. He looked about with wide, interested eyes, then up at her as she squeezed his hand. "Yukito, make sure you stay close to me today. I don't want to loose you. Some stranger might take you home with him instead!"

Yukito giggled. "Okay, Auntie."

"So, what do you want to do first, kiddo? Do you want to go on the rides first? Or do you want something to eat?"

"I'm hungry..."

"Okay, food it is!" Meiling answered cheerfully, pulling Yukito along with her. While she spoke to the hotdog stand seller, Yukito continued to look around. He saw many children his age laughing happily with their mommies, and an overwhelming jealousy came over him.

'I want my mommy...'

Yukito could hear a nearby mother giggling. It sounded like music to his ears, and he craved hearing more of it. He wandered after the parting sound of amusement, but froze when he realized that he was no longer hanging onto his aunt's hand. Fear filled him and tears brimmed in his eyes when he saw no sight of Meiling.

A giant penguin appeared in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere, and thrust a blue balloon into his hand. Yukito gave the balloon a frightened look and released it up into the sky. Then he turned to the person and started to cry.

Inside the costume, Sakura panicked. Her eyes went wide and she almost let go of the other balloons in her hand, herself. 'Oh, shoot! I must've scared him!' she thought.

"Hey kid, don't cry! I'm not going to hurt you," she said quickly. "I was just wondering if you wanted a balloon, but I guess you didn't, huh?" She knelt before the young child, who was wiping his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt. He sniffled and regarded her with teary gray eyes.

"But, you're a stranger. My auntie told me to stay away from strangers because they'll take me home with them instead!"

"Well, I'm not going to take you home with me," Sakura assured him confidently, imagining her father's and brother's reactions to that. She patted his soft hair and smiled, although he could not see it. "Are you lost? 'Cause if you are, I can help you find your parents." 

"But... But you're a…penguin."

A small sweat drop formed on Sakura's brow at this, and she wondered if she had had that sort of imagination when she was a kid. "No, no, I'm just wearing a costume, see?" she offered, removing the head. She shook her head, glad to be free of at least part of the sweltering suit, and blinked stunning jade eyes as she ran a hand through her long locks of coppery hair. 

Gray eyes widened at the sight of this now familiar woman. A strong sense of warmth invaded his small body and a beaming smile lit upon his little face. He dove forward onto the shocked girl dressed in a penguin suit with a happy cry.

"MOMMY!"

"H-H-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

**Author's Note: ** Don't worry, once I finish the introductions, the next chapter will be bursting with humor. It's not much yet, but it WILL get better! Honest.

R/R and please tell me if you liked it. If you don't, I'll throw Syaoran in a pit with alligators in it! To save his life, leave a nice review on your way out!

** (1) ** Meiling here will be Syaoran's sister.

Ja! 

**Syaoran: ** Guys! Come on! Somebody, please! She's crazy! Just leave her a review! PLEASE!

Oto-san – daddy

Onii-san – big brother

Ja – see ya later


	2. Daddy

**Author's Note: ** Sorry for the late update, guys! (Un-)surprisingly, my summer has been bombarded with schoolwork. So now that my summer is about to end, I've decided to stop being so lazy and just write another chapter before school starts. 

**Legend: ** "speech" 'thought'

**Chibi Heero: ** Just _forget_ that already (everyone already knows) and start the fic! Of all the fics you have that aren't about me, I seem to like this one the best.

**Chapter 2: Daddy**

Yukito burrowed his face into his mother's chest, inhaling her sweet scent. A strong sense of warmth flowed through his small form as he relished the moment of being with his mommy once more after so long apart. How he had dreamed of this moment. Now that it was happening, there was simply no way he way going to let go of her. "Mommy, I've missed you so much. Please, don't leave me and Daddy again. Come home with us."

Sakura stared down at the little boy in her arms and felt like crying. She didn't know what to do, but the kid seemed so happy to see her... 'He thinks I'm his mother. Of course he is happy! What am I going to do? I can't go home with him. Oh, gods, Touya is going to kill me. I should bring him to the security office...'

A loud grumbling interrupted her rushing confused thoughts. Instinctively, she flinched, clinging tighter to the child in her arms at the thought of thunder. She didn't hate it, but she didn't like it, either... "And I thought it was supposed to be sunny today," she sighed, peeking up the sunny sky.

She blinked. "Where did that thunder come from?" she asked in bewilderment, looking down at the boy next to her. He gave her a sheepish look. 

A smile tugged at the lips of the copper-haired girl. "That was you, wasn't it? Are you hungry?" 

He gave her a vigorous nod and she smiled, lifting him into her arms. At least there was something she could do to help the poor kid, and she could always report him after food. "Let's eat!"

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

"He has silvery hair and he wears eyeglasses. He was wearing a-a blue jumper and... Are you listening to me?" Meiling wailed, grabbing the patrol officer's collar in a fierce grip. "My nephew – who is just a baby – is out there somewhere! Alone! And if you don't find him, I'm going to get you fired!" She paused and her eyes flashed. _ "What are you still doing here? Start looking!" _

"Y-yes, ma'am!" the man hastened to answer as he pried her fingers away from his shirt and hurried towards the door. Normally, he would have protested such treatment, but obeying was far easier than standing up to an enraged aunt who was missing a nephew. 

Touya continued to search all of the rides and booths for a child that fit the description given – anything was better than admitting defeat to that woman. But even with the entire available staff searching, they had been unable to track down the missing child and he grew more concerned with every minute that passed. 

He took a brief break to sip from his water bottle and noticed a staff member running towards him. Touya at first hoped that they had tracked down the boy, but his hopes were destroyed by the worried looks on the their faces and the fact that there was a taller man racing after them – a man that Touya recognized as the kid's father and an actor from the many posters that adorned Sakura's walls. 

"Did you find him?" Syaoran demanded, gasping for breath. 

"I'm sorry, Mr. Li, but we've looked everywhere and we just haven't been able to find your son," Touya answered slowly, praying that this one wouldn't lash out at him like his sister had. 

"Everywhere? Have you tried the food stalls?" the actor questioned. 

The other employee blinked and shared a puzzled look with Touya. "Actually... No, we have not, sir. We believed that, like most kids, he would be around the rides and games," the other man replied. 

"Well, my son is not like most kids!" shouted Syaoran. A sense of rising dread gripped him with every passing second. He had lost his wife – was he going to lose his son, too?

'Please, please let Yukito be safe!' Syaoran prayed as the four of them rushed towards the food stalls, hoping against all odds that the small toddler would be there safely.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

"All right, Sakura, is that all?" the elderly man asked, setting the last of the ordered dishes on the straining picnic table. Sakura flashed him an embarrassed smile and nodded. "You've ordered everything on the menu, so I hope so."

A sweat-drop formed on her brow, and she sighed silently. 'I hope I can pay for all of this,' she thought worriedly, eyeing the food that was piled before them. She had a mental image of her money flying away. 

She gave the boy beside her a bright smile, concealing her thoughts, and said, "well, sweetie, dig in!" 

Without hesitation, the gray–haired toddler eagerly obeyed, "Mmmmm! Hey, Mommy... Is sweetie my new nickname?" 

Sakura paused, feeling guilty. She hadn't wanted to ask the kid his name since he thought she was his mommy. She had the feeling that it would offend him, so she had decided on 'sweetie', which was something her own father called her by.

"Why? Don't you like it?" she asked, going with the safe route. 

"Oh, I do! It's much better than just plain Yukito! It makes me feel all warm inside when you call me sweetie!" he smiled up at her and then turned back to the food. 

Sakura felt a warm surge of emotion inside herself when she saw that adorable smile. It made her feel happy to think that she was the cause of that smile. Yukito was so very cute, almost like her own nephew Eriol. But when Eriol smiled at her, she felt like an aunt, but when Yukito smiled she felt like a mother. 

"Yukito!" The child turned in the direction of the voice, eyes lighting up. 

"Daddy!" he said happily, leaping into the arms of his father who hugged him as hard as he could. 

Sakura watched the loving scene with tear-filled eyes. 'Wow, he must love his son so much...' she thought, oddly reminded of her own father relationship with her father. 

"_Sakura_! What are you doing here?" Touya asked in surprise upon seeing his sister seated at the table in her penguin suit. His eyes widened. "And did you eat all of this food! I always knew you were a kaijuu, but I didn't think you were a piglet, too." 

Sakura's emerald eyes flashed and the tears vanished. "Mou, Touya! I'm not a kaijuu or a piglet! Stop calling me all of these weird names! And for your information, no, I did not eat all of this food. I haven't eaten at all today!" 

"I ate it!" a cheerful voice interrupted before Touya could respond. 

_ "What!" _

"It's true," said Sakura tiredly. Her head was beginning to ache. "He ate all that food." 

"Wait a minute!" Touya blurted suddenly. "You were with this kid all along? Didn't you know that we've been searching for him for hours?" 

Sakura scowled and rubbed her forehead. She could feel a migraine starting to come on. "I was about to take him to security, but he was hungry." 

It occurred to Syaoran just then that this stranger – this person in the weirdo suit – must have cared for his son since he went missing. "Excuse me, Miss, but did you buy all this food for my son?" 

"Ummm..." Sakura hesitated, unsure of whether her actions had been right. What if Yukito had just ate or was supposed to be going out to dinner ? "Well..." 

Before Syaoran could offer to pay for all the food Yukito had devoured, the boy decided to pipe up his opinion once again. "Daddy, Mommy _did_ buy all that food for me." 

At this statement, the group save Sakura stopped and stared at the child. Sakura merely sighed and began to massage her temples. She would be hearing about this from Touya for weeks to come. 

"Mommy?" Touya repeated in an incredulous tone, gawking from his sister to the child with enormous eyes.

Without so much as a blink, Li Syaoran mumbled an apology and a good-bye and turned to leave, his son in his arms and his sister in tow. 

"Eh! Daddy, what are you doing? Stop! I found Mommy! Why are we leaving? Mommy!" Yukito screamed as he began to struggle to get out of his father's strong grip. 

Without warning, Yukito kicked his father in the chest and screamed as loud as he could. Syaoran could only embrace his son, burying his face into the child's hair to try and hide his own tears. "She isn't your mother, Yukito. Please, just stop it. Don't make this harder than it already is." 

"She is Mommy! Daddy, don't leave her! Please!" 

Sakura, Touya and Meiling could only watch powerlessly as the two argued. Yukito struggled to get away from his father and Syaoran fought to strap his son into the car. Passer-bys were beginning to look at them uneasily, but as Sakura watched, she felt only sympathy and a growing pain in her heart. She knew all too well what it was like to want your mommy... to not understand why she wasn't coming. She also knew the burden of not being able to understand, of feeling unbearable helpless, of having a great hole inside of you that couldn't be filled. 

She knew that she had to do something, somehow, to help them both. 

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS 

"Kinomoto-san, I'm really sorry for all the trouble that we have caused you. Yukito isn't usually like this. He misses his mother so much that sometimes, he will see women that resemble her and believe that they are her," Meiling explained in a whisper. She didn't want to wake up the toddler that was now tucked into bed. 

"It's nothing, really," Sakura asserted softly. She had finally gone back to the Li estate with the family to calm Yukito. Now that the child was sleeping, she could leave. "Yukito is a sweetheart. I understand how he feels. It must have been so hard for the both of them..." she trailed off, pity glimmering in her emerald eyes. 

"Yes..." Meiling sighed. "Whenever Yukito gets like this, we just don't know how to handle him. Syaoran gets frustrated at his inability to do anything. It would be much easier if Yukito were older." 

"I understand," Sakura patted Meiling's arm comfortingly, "But I need to be heading home. Onii-san is going to throw a fit if I don't get home soon and tell him all that happened today." 

The two women tip-toed out of the room and down the stairs. "I'll have Jerry drive you home," Meiling offered as they reached the double doors of the main entrance. She paused and turned to Sakura. "Before I forget, Syaoran wanted you to have this." The Chinese woman handed the other girl an envelope containing money. 

Sakura winced and eased the envelope back into Meiling's hands. "Please, I-I didn't do this to get something in return. I did it because I saw myself in Yukito. Thanks anyway, and good-bye." She hurried out the door before she could hear Meiling's reply and by-passed the car with a polite wave of refusal. All she wanted to do was go home and sit in her bedroom alone with a picture of her mother so that she could finally cry the tears that had been building up all day since meeting Yukito.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

Syaoran watched Sakura run towards the gates from his study window. He did not turn even when he realized that he was no longer alone in the room. As the sky outside darkened to night, he said, "Did she take the money?"

"No. She said that she did it because she saw herself in Yukito. She is very unusual and kind."

"Hmm... Yes, I can see why Yukito was so persistent that she was his mother. She resembles Amaya a great deal... Except for her eyes, of course." He glanced down at the picture that he was holding in his hands, examining the beautiful features he had already memorized.

His finger traced every details of the shimmering, waist-length auburn curls, to the contours of her slender, beaming face and finally to her vibrant, chocolate brown eyes. The same eyes that haunted him in his sleep every night. How he had loved those eyes...

"Li-sama, come quickly! It's Yukito!" The maid called Nikki shouted as she appeared in the doorway. She beckoned them to follow, then turned and rushed up the corridor with Syaoran and Meiling right behind her.

"Mommy! I want my mommy! Where is she?" screamed Yukito. His normally peaceful face was bright red and his eyes were filled with tears. His nose was running and he was crying so hard he could hardly breathe as he threw another toy against the wall.

"Yukito, stop that!" Syaoran ordered. "Doing that will not bring your mommy back!"

"I thought you love me!" Yukito wailed. "I thought you loved mommy, too, but you don't! You don't love either of us! You told her to go away, didn't you! She never would have left me otherwise. I hate you, Daddy! I hate you!" Yukito seized another of his toys and hurtled it as his father as he spoke.

Syaoran stood frozen as blood trickled down his cheek from the toy striking him. The flesh wound stung, but the words Yukito had spoken hurt more. "How could you even begin to think that, Yuki? You and your mother are the people that matter the most to me," he whispered in a pained voice.

"I'm sorry, Daddy!" Yukito sobbed, sprinting into his father's warm embrace. "I miss her so much. Please make Mommy come home. I promise I'll be good and I won't throw my toys anymore and I'll behave at your jobs!" he cried, tugging on his father's wet shirt. "Please, Daddy! I love you, but I love Mommy, too, and I need her!"

"Don't worry, Yuki..." Syaoran swore, looking down at his only child with love in his eyes. "I promise you. Mommy WILL come home to you."

**Author's Note: ** Uh-oh! Syaoran promised Yukito that Mommy will be back! How is he planning to do that when his wife is dead? Tune in next time for –

**Chibi Heero: ** Oh, shut up. You sound like an old TV show! Just tell them to leave a review and be done with it.

**Kawaii Authoress: ** Oh, but we're not done. We still have to reply to our loyal and wonderful reviewers! Yay, my favorite part of writing a fic! XD Here we go!

**Reply to Reviewers:**

**Replty to All**: I don't actually like addressing you all like this, but since you're sooooooo many and since majority of you are saying the same thing I decided to put most of my reply here.

I'd like to thank everyone who thought that my fic was funny and to those who liked it even if I was only at the introduction part, I'm REALLY very sorry for the long update though...I was really busy for the past month. Also I'd like to say that I really like reading all of your reveiws it always brightens up my day!

Anyway I hope you liked this new update and don't worry, you just might like what will happen on the next chapter AND I'll try to update ASAP. And I'd like the others to read the reply for nearinsane and dreaming-twilight since it might clear a few things up for you.

**heartluv: ** My first reviewer for this story! glad you thought that Mommy was really funny...I really hoped it would be funny!

**ashley-chan: ** hey you have the same name as my friend! Anyway thanks for thinking that my story is cute...thank you that makes me really happy when people think that my ideas are cute since I usually try to think of something eye-catching.

**Lady Golden Flower: ** Sorry for the long update...I hope you liked this update and that you keep Reading and reviewing my fic.

**midnite-goddess: ** Aww that was so sweet! I'm glad you think that my story is good and thank you for thinking that I'm a good authoress, but I can't take all the credit...I mean my beta really helped in improving it. :)

**the nadja: **Well I hope it won't be that similar...but I am so touched that you thought that my fic is better! THANK YOU! i hope you liked this new update! 

**Faeza: ** Actually I was wondering which son should be which...but then I thought Eriol has more connection with the Kinomotos and Eriol is somewhat involved with Kaho. And Yukito is about 4 and so is Eriol... the others are around 20. 

**obitakuhlet: ** Actually I got my penname in honor of my hardworking beta...and I'm sure she'll really like what you said about her name. And thanks for thinking it was cute...I really like my new penname much better. 

**Lyra Sakura: ** Hmmm I don't think I know that movie...well hope you liked this new update 

**Mesya: ** I'll try to mention them, but I can't guarantee since it's usually hard to hold so many characters.

**candy-chan-chan: ** Oh no! Not the puppy dog pout! How can I resist puppy dog eyes with a pout? So here's your update! 

**animelover2: ** And A+ I'm so touched thank you! And did you see your name there? Yay, and this isn't going to be the only chapter you'll see your name in! So keep reading, kay? 

**lor: **You're the only who tried to save Syaoran from the alligators! Looking forward to seeing you again at school! Yeah aren't those two just look so cute as kids! I mean I can just eat them up! And yes since Yukito is a kid, no way Sakura will ever have a crush on him! LOL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY:) 

**Pink Cherry Blossoms White Peonies: ** Thanks for reviewing twice...hey those are the Sakura's and Syaoran's favorite flowers! 

**LadyAkina: ** I think this chapter has just answered your questions. 

**Little Wolf's Cherry Blossom: ** I'm not sure if kawaiiness is a word...but I'll take it since it's a BIG compliment to my fic! 

**nearinsane: ** Sad to say Yukito's mom is dead...and just for clarification Sakura isn't really Yukito's mom (most reviews I get are sort of implying it) he just thinks that she is his mom. Anyway I think this chapter has answered that question. 

**dreaming-twilight: ** An observant one...well usually in anime they don't usually care about genetic codes, maybe similarity in looks but the hair color usually varies (I mean where do you find a kid with gray hair anyway?). But here's my more logical answer to that...maybe one of Amamiya's parents have grayis hair...I mean after all Nadeshiko has gray hair but neither Sakura nor Touya inherited it so it's probably a recessive trait (I'm not implying that Sakura is Yukito's mom...just using them as examples). I hope you understand...if you're still confused you just say so I'm willing to give an explanation. 


	3. Unusual Job

**Author's Note:** I am soooooo sorry for the extremely late update! Like everyone else, I'm sure, I've been bogged down like crazy with school and it totally sucks. Especially since I have to handle college applications and entrance exams on top of everything else! However, rest assured I've not forgotten you all. I'd never let you all down! hugs her reviewers

**Chibi Heero:** I'm feeling a bit nice today, shockingly. So why not tell them what your surprise is?

**Kawaii Authoress:** Oh, yeah! Well, this is more for my anonymous reviewers. I decided that, if you leave me your e-mail address, I will personally e-mail you an author alert on all of my stories (it's too difficult to just send one story alert). But remember – to do this, I need your e-mail address! I'm not psychic!

And now, without further ado, let's begin the fic! I'm sure you're all dying to know what Syaoran's plan is, aren't ya?

**Legend:** "speech" 'thought'

**Age of Characters:** Yukito & Eriol-4, Sakura-19, Syaoran-22, Meiling-24, Touya-27, Kaho-28

**Chapter 3: The Unusual Job**

Brushing a strand of auburn hair out her tired eyes, Kinomoto Sakura approached the table as the businessmen filed out the door. Setting her bottle of cleaner and her rag on the chair, she began stacking the dirtied plates, utensils and cups on top of one another. Spotting the decent tip, she slipped the money into her apron pocket and handed the dishes to one of her co-workers to be taken into the kitchen as he headed by.

"Oi, Kinomoto!" the manager called out sharply. "Your shift is over. You can go now." 

"Hai," Sakura replied, fighting the urge to yawn as she sprayed the cleaning solution on the tabletop and began to wipe it down. She was exhausted in every sense of the word, and her poor feet were throbbing from the shoes she had to wear. It seemed to take ages until the scuffed wood was shining and, relieved, she hurried into the back to get changed. 

Stripping off her work uniform, she gratefully donned her casual tank top and skirt and exchanged the shoes that pinched for more comfortable sandals. She brushed out her tumbling curls and transferred the money she had gotten from tips into her wallet, then slung her shoulder bag over her shoulder and climbed the stairs. 

"Kinomoto Sakura?" 

Startled, Sakura glanced up into two sets of sunglasses that reflected her wide emerald eyes back at her. "Um... yes? That's me." 

"We need you to come with us," said one of the men, touching her shoulder. 

"Sorry, I don't accept rides from strangers," Sakura muttered, giving then a fake smile. She began to head around them and was startled when they each placed a hand on her upper hand. "What do you think you're doing? Get your hands off of me!" 

The men ignored her as they ushered her outside. It was only when she spotted their car did she realize that the two were the men whose table she had just cleaned. "Is this about my tip?" she asked uncertainly, trying to dig her heels in. "If you thought it was too much, I'll give it back! All you have to do – " the man who had not spoken yet opened the door to the limit. To her dismay, she was shoved inside as easily as if she were made from cotton – "is ask...? Ah, crap." 

SsSsSsSsSsSsS 

'I've been kidnapped by some freaky guys in black suits, and they've brought me to a nicer-looking version of a police interrogation room. Why do these things always happen to _me_?' thought the young teen to herself, staring with wide eyes at the mirror that took up over half the wall opposite of herself. It took a conscious effort not to talk out loud to herself, something she had gotten in the habit of doing long ago. But if there were people watching her, she certainly did not want to give them any ammunition. 

The sound of a door creaking stole her attention to the far side of the room, where a familiar face peered inside. "Sakura? What are you doing here?" 

"Meiling!" Feeling a combination of relief and anxiety, Sakura leapt to her feet. "What are_ you_ doing here? Oh, no! Did they get you, too?" 

A puzzled look on her face, Meiling edged into the room and closed the door behind her. "Who are _they_?" 

Sakura gestured helplessly with her hands. "I don't know! Some creepy guys in suits that have no respect for personal space."

A frown creased Meiling's youthful features, but before she could respond, the door opened a second time. Syaoran Li stood in the doorway, looking less than impressed but resigned at the sight of his cousin.

"Would you leave Kinomoto and I alone, please, Meiling?" he asked.

Obediently, with the air of someone was obeying an order she would have otherwise defied, Meiling rose to her feet and cast Sakura one last look before she exited the room. Syaoran closed the door behind her and approached his confused 'guest'.

"My sincerest apologies for the rough manner in which you were treated, Kinomoto-san, especially after the degree of kindness you have shown to my son," he said after a moment. Sakura nodded. "Apology accepted," she replied, having never been one to hold a grudge.

"Now, let us get down to the point as we have limited time together. My son, although you are not as lovely as my late wife, believes that you are his mother." 

Mild hurt flashed in Sakura's eyes at his beauty comment, and she frowned. "I don't think I understand what you're getting at." 

"Lately, Yukito has somehow become convinced that I am keeping you away from him. He has thrown numerous tantrums and will continue to do so until I bring his mother home to him. However, that is impossible, yet I wish for him to be happy. Therefore, I am offering you a unique job." 

"I require for you to be my son's mother. I am willing to pay you an average salary of ten thousand dollars a month. I can assure that is more than you will make in a year in any of your recent jobs." He caught sight if the fury collecting in emerald eyes and raised a hand. "Allow me to finish. This contract will be valid only until Yukito is old enough to fully understand about his mother. Until that time, you will live here in your own private set of rooms. 

"Also, it has come to my attention that the reason you are not a college student is because of your family's financial status... or lack thereof. I am willing to pay for your college tuition if you take the job. Similarly, I will pay all of your family's debts, medical bills and the like. Your family will enjoy complete financial security if you agree." 

Sakura had been sitting quietly until this moment, but now she looked up with flashing eyes. "Where the hell did you get that information about my family?" she demanded. "What business is that of yours?" 

"That is not important right now," said Syaoran impatiently, "I want to know if you will accept my family. I am offering you the option to give a better future to your family, including your brother's son, Eriol. All you need to do is be Yukito's mother. Will you accept?" 

"How can you talk about this as if you're offering to buy someone out?" she cried. "This is insane! Yukito will be furious when he is older!" 

A flicker of pain flashed in Syaoran's eyes. "I... I am aware of that, Kinomoto. But for my son, I am willing to do anything to bring a smile to his face now. So, will you accept?" 

Sakura lowered her head and stared at the ground, her mind racing. On the one hand, she felt utterly insulted by the indirect way Syaoran had spoken about her family and she knew that the job offer was totally crazy. On the other, she could completely sympathize with Yukito. When her own mother had died, there had been nothing on Earth she had wanted more than to be with her mother again. 

She found herself thinking about the time Nadeshiko had died. Sakura had been only a year or so older than Yukito – old enough to understand mommy wasn't coming home, but not why. She remembered with vivid clarity the times she would be playing and then she would start crying for no reason. At those time, her father had picked her up and hugged her without speaking, but always crying himself. 

Her heart twisted and she blinked back tears. And then, she spoke two words Syaoran had begun to think that he would not hear. "I accept." 

SsSsSsSsSsSsS 

Later that night, Sakura returned home with none of her usual joy. The moment she had agreed, Syaoran had given her the complete run down of what her job would entail. Everything had been carefully planned out. 

There were still a few things bothering her, however. For one thing, she was worried about how Yukito would react when he found out the truth. As this was a future issue, it didn't stress her out as much as the present one did – how on earth was she going to tell her family without admitting what the job was? 

"Hello, Sakura-chan," a warm voice greeted her. She glanced up at her father, who smiled at her from the doorway to the kitchen. "You're a bit late." 

"Oh, um," Sakura stalled, pulling her shoes off and sliding her slippers on, "I had to stay behind to help clean up." 

Kaho looked at her with interest as she finished setting the table. "You had to stay late to clean? Where did you go today?" 

"Oh... I was hired to be a bus girl," replied the red-head dismissively. She peered around, confused. "Where's Eriol?" 

"I sent him to bed, since he has school tomorrow." 

"I see," said Sakura, slightly disappointed. She had been looking forward to playing with her nephew. 

"Okay, I'll ask. Normally, this is the part where you're tripping over yourself trying to describe everything about your job at once. We're waiting, Kaijuu," Touya remarked, raising his eyebrows at his younger sister. 

She stuck her tongue out at her brother and tried to recall what Syaoran had told her to say. "I wasn't finished yet! I got offered a permanent job," she told them, trying to inject some excitement into her voice. 

Everyone in the room turned to stare at her, surprise evident in their curious looks. Sakura's cheeks reddened, but she straightened her shoulders and sucked in a deep breathe. 'Sa, Sakura, you can do this! Just the way I practiced!' 

"Er... You see, the restaurant I was working at today was short a chef. I guess he was sick or something. Anyway, one of their important customers came in and wanted a Caramel Custard, but no one else was sure on how to make one. Well, I offered to whip one up and it seems the customer really enjoyed it. He offered me a job as a dessert chef at one of the restaurants he owns." 

By the time the girl had concluded, Fujitaka was beaming. "Sakura, that's wonderful," he declared, feeling immense pride for his giving daughter. He had never been happier that he had spent so much time teaching her to cook when she was younger. "Things are finally looking up for you." 

Sakura could not look her father in the eye. Instead, she stared at the floor. "Yes, I suppose they are," she said reluctantly. "But you see... There's a catch. To be a chef, I have to go to cooking school to get training as well as a diploma." 

"You're joking, right?" Touya exclaimed incredulously. "They're actually offering to put you through college? How is that a bad thing?" 

Biting her lip and fidgeting, Sakura hung her head. "They want to send me as soon as possible, because the first semester is starting in a few weeks. But the college... it's... well, it's in France." 

Upon hearing this bit of information, the joy that was present on the faces of the group began to disappear. No one was quite sure that they heard right, but one glance at Sakura confirmed it. Their little cherry blossom was about to leave for France! 

"When... When do you leave?" asked Kaho, trying and failing to force a smile onto her face. 

Twining her hands together, Sakura said, "It should be as soon as possible. Classes will begin soon, and I need to get used to the city before I can go to them. But... I'm a little hesitant about leaving. Will you be okay without me?" 

"We're very happy for you, Sakura-chan. This will be a wonderful experience for a young lady like yourself. Trust me, an opportunity like this only comes by once in a lifetime. You need to grab it while it is present. Although we will miss you desperately, and we are sure that you will miss us, you shouldn't worry about how we will be. We will be fine," Kaho told her gently, giving Fujitaka and Touya a pointed glare. 

"After all, you have already done so much around here. You've sacrificed your future enough to help us out around here. And I don't want to hear any protests – " added Kaho when Sakura made to do so. "We love you a great deal, but sooner or later, we would have had to learn to live without you. That is the unfortunate truth of life. Isn't that right?" She glanced at the men for support. 

Fujitaka heaved a sigh and smiled wistfully at his baby. "Kaho is right, Sakura-chan," he said softly, brushing a strand of auburn hair from her face. "I always knew the day would come when I would have to let you go. I guess I just never thought it would come this soon. It seems like just yesterday you were a child, but now, you're a young woman and it's time for you to make your mark on the world. I believe that this is _your_ chance, and I would never even think of holding you back from it. You should go, sweetheart, and make us proud like you always do." 

By the time her father finished speaking, there were tears in Sakura's eyes. Now, she felt even worse about lying. "Oh, Daddy," she said, choking back a sob, and threw her arms around him. He held her close, blinking back tears of his own. 

Touya cleared his throat. "Dad and Kaho are right, Sakura," he said, looking serious. "Having you around has been the best gift I could ask for when it comes to my family. Even when it seems like things are at their worst, your smile always brightened my day. But now, it's time for you to share that smile with other people. You need to take this job, Kaijuu. It will lead you to great places." 

"Onii-chan!" Tears streaming down her cheeks, Sakura flung herself into the arms of her brother and broke down sobbing. "I'm scared," she admitted. 

"It's okay to be scared," Kaho told her, "Being scared is what keeps us safe. But in this case, we know you will do great." 

Sakura brushed the tears from her eyes and stepped back. She looked each member of her family in the eye carefully. "So, you are really okay with me going to France?" 

A chuckle came from Fujitaka. "Well, I don't think we're quite ready to throw you on the next flight, but we're getting there." 

"Speak for yourself, Dad," Touya said, grinning, "I can see the benefit of a Kaijuu-free Eriol!" 

"TOUYA!" 

Kaho and Fujitaka exchanged quiet smiles as Sakura chased her laughing brother around. It would be one of the hardest things either could imagine to let Sakura go, but it simply had to be done. 

SsSsSsSsSsSsS 

_RING! ... RING! ... RING! _

"Li." 

"Li-san? This is Sakura." 

"Well?" 

There was the sound of a deep breath being taken. "They believed everything you told me to tell them," Sakura said slowly. "They think I am going to France."

"Good. Meiling will be there tomorrow morning to assist you." 

"Um... okay. Good–bye." 

"Kinomoto." 

"Yeah?" 

" ... I know... That this was very difficult for you. I appreciate what you are doing for Yukito." 

There was a long pause. "You're welcome, Li-san." 

"Well? What did she say?" 

Syaoran did not bother to turn as he hung up the telephone. Instead, he slumped in his chair and released a long sigh. "She said yes," he muttered. 

"You don't sound very happy," Meiling commented, giving him a knowing look. "Isn't this what you wanted?" 

A frown crossed the man's face, as if he was sure that her statement was a trick that he didn't know how to answer. "Yes," he replied finally, "Yes, it was. Besides," a weary smile that did not reach his eyes crossed his face, "There's no turning back now, right?" 

Meiling looked at him for a long moment, an unusual amount of sympathy in her dark eyes. "Right," she said gently. "There's no turning back now." 

**Author's Note:** Allllllllllll right! We're finally getting closer to the action now that Sakura has accepted. Next part, we're doing the girl thing – shopping time, baby! ignores the sound of guys groaning

Before we get to my favorite part, I'd like to take the time to request that everyone glance at my other Cardcaptor Sakura and Gundam Wing fics. Particularly "Take My Hand", as that is a favorite of mine. It would mean a lot to me! 

Now, on to the reviewer replies!

**Reply to All:** THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE WHO LIKED MY STORY, CRIED OVER IT AND FOUND IT COOL! I ALWAYS STRIVE TO MAKE YOU GUYS HAPPY! THIS IS ALL FOR YOU! I'M EVEN MORE TOUCHED TO LEARN THAT I WAS ABLE TO MAKE YOU CRY OR SOMETHING CLOSE TO IT! As always my sincerest apologies for a very long update but school is my most valid excuse; also a reminder to my anonymous reviewers please leave you email ad and I shall provide you with a personal author alert from ME! Thank you so much for those who found the last chapter as somewhat sad and touching...I really do pity Yukito, he's such a sweet heart, ne? And thanks so much just 3 more and I could've gotten 100! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR BEING SO PATIENT AND LOYAL WITH ME! Don't worry the upcoming chapters will so be worth your wait!

**Mei Kimari:** The answer to your question has been given in the intro already. And yes a chibi Yukito is soooo KAWAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

**Sakura's Chibi Ookami:** Hey that sounds pretty cool! Awww thanks your review rocks too!

**Lil' Kitten:** Aww your so sweet, sorry I can't update soon but I hope you like this new installment.

**cold-eyed-angel:** That is such a WICKED name! I miss you too Jan! And thanks for the review it really encourages me to write when my friends support me! God bless and hope we stay in touch some time and God bless in your new school!

**Sakari:** Awww that's so touching, the admiring fan made me blush.

**Kristin:** Yeah I don't know how I'll live without my mom either! Wow, what you said really touched me about my story being one of the good ones you've read in ages! I'm glad you found my story good, thank you so much for the compliment!

**amy0110:** Really? You found it cool? Thank you so much!

**lor:** Sakura has already graduated High school she just can't enroll in college yet.

**luckyducky7too:** Now you know how Syaoran did it, pretty smart ne? And yes Kaho and Touya are married and their son is Eriol.

**totally-spaz:** Well I couldn't bring the dead mother to life because this will be a horror instead of a humor fic, so yeah I had to stick with Syaoran hiring Sakura. But LOL, just think if Syaoran did bring his dead wife back...

**youkaigirl64:** You really think so? Thank you so much, that really means a lot to me! sniff

**MysticMoonEmpress:** Straight up girl! I'm beginning to pity Sakura now...

**VampireJazzy:** Thank you so much that really means a lot, and thanks for the encouragement. I hope you enjoyed this one.

**animelover2:** Aw thanks I'll cherish my 10 golden stars forever!

**LadyAkina:** LOL! You're right! That was so funny! He really should be thankful he met the girl in a PENGUIN suit, great things come in weird packages!

**Rose Mitzkah:** Yeah I have heard...but rest assured I didn't steal this plot from them. Thanks for liking it anyway, hope you like this one too!


	4. Shopping!

**Author's Note: **Woohoo! Summer is just around the corner for me, so now I'm free to write my fics again, and believe me I'm doing my best to maximize the given time. And forgive me if there's a little grammar (tenses) problem…my beta hasn't replied to me yet so I decided to post it w/o it getting beta-edited because I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. I AM SO SORRY!

**Warning:** You might find Syaoran a wee bit OOC here in this chapter, this is his true character here in the story, he just gets real emotional when it comes to his son and wife, but otherwise he's smug in my story. After all, as an actor he should have a lot confidence and can carry himself in a reserved, not so stoic, yet amicable manner.

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Lexicon**

Ano – a way of saying ummm, usually _Ano sa_

Demo- but

Matte- wait

Teme- a mean way of addressing someone could mean, bastard, witch, b****

Kireii- beautiful

Sugoii- Wow! Amazing!

Suma- short for _Sumimasen, _meaning Excuse me

Iie- NO

Daijoubou- could mean a lot along the lines of being okay, "I'm all right" or "It's okay" or "No problem"

Ittadakumasu- commonly said before eating, and commonly mistaken for "Grace" it actually means "I receive what is being given."

**Disclaimer: **I don't own WcDonald's (Japanese anime's version of McDonald's…just in case you guys didn't know ^_^), Icebergs, or Titanic…because if I did…seriously I'd be rich and owning Card Captor Sakura instead.

So you guys have waited months enough for the next installment, so I won't be delaying it anymore….without further ado I give you

**Chapter 4: Shopping!**

Lunch hour, it was the busiest time of the day for WcDonald's; the restaurant was always jam-packed with employees from the surrounding offices. Lines would usually go as far as the door and all the tables would be filled; the whole place was bustling. Employees are in a rush to get their food and eat it all within the short period of time given to them which only lasted for at least two hours, and WcDonald's employees hurrying to meet every customer's demand.

Amid all the hustling and bustling, one auburn-haired cashier still manages to greet every customer with a happy smile. "Good afternoon welcome to WcDonald's may I have your order, please?"

"I think I'll have one of you, on the go." The customer replied with a big grin on his face.

"Excuse m-me?" Sakura responded surprised by what the customer had said, slowly as her smile turns into a frightened frown, she opens her eyes only to be surprised by the sight of one very famous, very rich, and very handsome Li Syaoran.

Needless to say everyone was shocked, how could anyone not recognize the famous Chinese actor? His face just happened to be on every single billboard in the city! But what in the world was an actor like him doing in a jam-packed restaurant like this.

"Konnichiwa Sakura-chan!" Meiling greeted, letting her presence known, actually popping from behind the actor, startling the teen behind the counter.

"Ano- what are you guys doing here?"

"Does it matter, let's go." Syaoran replied pulling Sakura out of the counter, pushing every customer aside, and pulled her out of the restaurant to his car.

"Demo sa, I won't be off until 5!" she argued, blushing as the two were making a scene, all eyes on them.

"Meiling will handle that, just get in."

Once inside an awkward silence settled between them, Sakura was sitting just beside Syaoran- one of the hottest actor of their time who also happened to be her biggest infatuation. So it was natural that she'd be shy around him, 'Wow he looks so much better in person, and taller too.'

"See something you like?" Syaoran asked with a smirk when he noticed that his soon-to-be pretend wife was looking him up.

"No!" she replied quickly, too quickly.

"So where are you guys taking me?" She asked trying to change the topic, when she felt him staring at her with that knowing smirk on his face.

"We're going to take you out shopping, we need to find you new clothes, because there is no way I'll have my new wife be seen wearing _those_."

Sakura felt a little embarrassed at that, did she look that poor? But before she could dwell on it Meiling entered the car with a big grin, "Okay I got everything covered, let's go."

"Sakura when we get to there Syaoran has a surprise for you."

"Tsk." He snorted as he closed his eyes pretending to be asleep.

"So has he told you where we're going?"

"Shopping.." she replied in a smile, as a girl it was natural for her to enjoy the thought of buying new clothes.

"Un, we're going shopping; and while we're at it, I'll be explaining a few things about the arrangement."

"Um, is there more? I thought I was just supposed to pretend as Yukito's mother…"

"Well yeah, but you see there's more…of course what will people say when all of a sudden Yukito's gets a mother that they've never seen before. So this trip will allow rumors to go around about Syaoran having a girlfriend and we'll be staging a wedding for you two…"

Whatever came after that, Sakura didn't hear it anymore…they were going to get married?

"Matte! If we get publicized then how will my family react when they find out that I'm here and that I'm getting married? They're supposed to think that I'm studying to be a chef in France."

"That's where your surprise comes in." Syaoran cut in, waking up from his supposed sleep.

"Hoe! Then what exactly is-"

"We're here!" Meiling squealed excitedly, "We have the whole shop all to ourselves! I can't wait, hayaku Sakura!" she cried pulling Sakura into the shop eager to begin their shopping.

The moment the two stepped into the shop, a figure immediately jumped on Sakura in a tight embrace.

"Sakura-chan!"

"H-HOEEEE! T-Tomoyo chan? When did you get back from England? What are you doing here?"

"I just got back yesterday, and well Syaoran-san invited me here…he told me everything! I'm so excited!"

"Tomoyo-san here will be the one to help us to keep your family from finding out about us; she'll be the one delivering them newspapers that has been edited, and she'll make sure that they won't see any news on the TV about us; she'll be distracting them 24/7. And I'm telling you now that this costs a lot of money, so you better be believable."

"H-hai."

"Mou, Syaoran you scared her! Why don't you just sit down while Sakura tries on different outfits and tell us which you think looks good. Saa, let the assistants come in."

Immediately two ladies and a guy with dark hair came in, "Welcome, welcome my name is Suppi and welcome to my dress shop! My lovely assistant, Ruby, will assist you in getting dressed. Ah Syaoran-san I'm a big fan by the way, and I'm thankful that you chose my shop for your fiancée…how can I help you? Do you want some champagne, coffee…"

While Suppi was busy sucking up to Syaoran Ruby took Sakura to the dressing room, helping her into the different outfits that were chosen by Meiling and Tomoyo; and each outfit will be screened by Syaoran who was sitting on a couch while reading his script.

First outfit:

Sakura came out wearing a pink dress that ended a few inches above her knees, the skirt was ballooned, with an absurdly big ribbon at back from her shoulders to the floor. The dress had a frilly apron on it, and to complete the outfit she was wearing bunny ears.

Reaction:

Tomoyo and Meiling: "KAWAII!"

Syaoran: "She looks ridiculous."

Oufit:

Sakura came out wearing a green top that had an abstract design in yellow and brown with rips at the sleeves, and white-washed jeans that also had rips at the upper-right hip and by the knees. To complete the outfit she was wearing a brown cap that was tilted slightly.

Reaction:

Tomoyo and Meiling: "Wow, Sakura looks so cool!"

Syaoran: "The press will think that I'm dating a teenager right off the streets."

Oufit:

The next outfit she was wearing was a black and red corset with a mini black skirt. Needless to say the outfit revealed a whole lot of skin.

Reaction:

Tomoyo and Meiling: "Sakura you look so sexy!"

Syaoran deadpanned.

Every time Sakura came out the changing room she would have a different outfit on, all of which were picked out by Tomoyo and Meiling, and all of which were rejected immediately by Syaoran.

"I don't like the color."

"She looks like a kid."

"She looks OLDER than me."

"She's NOT supposed to look like a cow girl."

"She's suppose to look like a wife, not a MAID! No matter how short the skirt is, I don't care!"

"Well if you're gonna shoot all the choices down, then she'll have nothing to wear!" Meiling complained they've been there for a whole hour and Syaoran had rejected every single one; it's like he always found something wrong with them. But then again there was always something wrong with them.

"Those clothes just don't fit her, it looks too flashy."

"Well, how about this one." Suppi suggested as Sakura came out with an outfit that he had picked out, Sakura was wearing a simple green sundress, with a small yellow daisy adorning her hair.

Reaction:

Tomoyo and Meiling: "Kireii…"

Syaoran walked over to Sakura, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, with a satisfied smile he gave them his answer never taking his eyes off of Sakura, "Perfect, she looks absolutely perfect."

The compliment itself, and the contact was more than enough to make Sakura blush. "Okay, I think the dress will do, Meiling, Tomoyo-san you guys keep choosing out clothes for her, we'll go ahead and have some lunch."

"Hai- have fun!" Meiling replied waving at the pair as they exited.

"And Suppi-san please make sure they won't pick out ridiculous outfits?"

"Teme!" Meiling grabbed a pillow and tossed it at her brother, hitting the door instead because the two had already gone.

The two rode in the car in silence, sitting a few meters apart from each other, but Syaoran surprised Sakura by taking one of her hand into his own.

"What are you thinking of?" Syaoran asked breaking the ice, he wasn't really uncomfortable with the silence, but he could sense that his companion was.

"Huh?"

"You seemed pretty quiet…and most girls are just quiet because they're thinking of something, or because they're feeling shy around me?"

Sakura blushed at the question, she was feeling a bit tensed; here she was all alone in a car with the guy every girl in China and Japan dreams of! Even she was a big fan of him, and somehow that embarrassed her, 'I don't want him to think that I'm no different from all his squealing fan girls! I need to act like I don't have a crush on him.'

"I thought you said we would go shopping? Where are we going now?" She asked trying to sidetrack him from thinking that she was feeling shy around him because of her crush on the handsome actor.

"We were taking too long, I'm sure the two can pick out a few more outfits for you. And we're going to the beach, there's this little restaurant there that I think you'll like."

"Sounds fun, but why are you taking me there?" she ventured.

"I'm sure Meiling has explained to you already, we need to start rumors about me dating a girl, that way they won't be so surprised when they find out that I'm getting married."

"Right, I think I heard her say something like that…" Sakura laughed nervously somehow she still couldn't believe that she was doing this. Even she knew that it was crazy and who knows what might happen to Yukito if he finds out…will they even tell him or will they just keep on deceiving him?

"Yes, and when the PRESS begins to look for information we will be purposely leaking news about us dating in secret for months now and what not. When we get out of this car, remember you need to act like I'm your boyfriend, and that you're in love with me. So we really need to look like a real couple, so don't be shy around me." He explained successfully breaking her train of thoughts.

The car stopped at the front of a small ice cream shop on the beach called "Icebergs", and since the lunch hour has ended the place was not so crowded anymore; except for some teenagers. Just as Sakura was about to go outside, Syaoran stopped her by pulling on the hand that he had been holding onto earlier.

"This is it, are you ready? I know this has got to be the craziest thing anyone has ever asked you to do and I wanna make sure that you won't regret this. I can't guarantee anything, because I really don't know what might happen to us. All I know is that the moment we step out of this car is the moment all of this begins; you'll become my wife and my son's mother. Are you still sure that you want to do this?"

Sakura turned to him, and was somewhat surprised to find that there was fear in his eyes, they were both uncertain, and they were both scared. But she knew that what they were doing was for the good of one little boy who wants nothing more than to feel the love of his mother. All of this was for him.

"Syaoran, I think I already know what I'm getting myself into, and I'm quite sure that I want to do this…for Yukito."

Syaoran smiled, slowly bringing up their intertwined hands to his lips and kissed her fingers gently to express his gratitude. "Let's go."

Sakura felt a little uncomfortable when everyone started staring at them the moment they entered hand in hand, like a real couple.

'So this is what it feels like to be dating someone famous…'

"Pretty soon it will be worst, so I suggest you start getting used to it and just ignore them." Syaoran whispered in her ear when he noticed Sakura shy away a bit from the stares, and some glares from his female fans.

The couple continued to silently walk toward an empty table by the veranda over-looking the ocean. Sakura gasped at the sight she saw, the sun was no longer that high, and it wasn't that hot. The ocean looked so blue, the breeze was blowing softly, and the sand was just so inviting. The sight was just good enough to make her smile and forget all her nervousness.

Once seated, she continued to look at the ocean leaving Syaoran to just order something for the both of them.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes, it's beautiful! So what did you order for us?"

"I hope your hungry, I ordered the Supreme Titanic Split."

"Oooh, sounds like a lot of ice cream."

"It is…" Syaoran smiled, and as if on cue, the waiters came out with a big bowl of ice cream, on both end of the bowl seemed to be the stern and the bow [1] of a plastic model of the Titanic, and three columns of three scoops of different flavors of ice cream stacked on each other to form an iceberg was placed between the stern and the bow, covered with nuts and marshmallows and showered with lots of chocolate syrup.

"Sugoi!"

"Shall we?"

"Ittadakimasu!" they both cried in unison before eating the humongous dessert between them. And while the two ate laughing at their childish antics, the PRESS was beginning to take pictures of Syaoran and his mystery lady.

With a triumphant smile, Syaoran took the last scoop and fed it to his "girlfriend" who ate it with one big gulp. The two had a goofy smile plastered on their ice cream covered mouth...they have conquered one of the biggest desserts ever made.

"You know I've always wanted to eat that ice cream ever since I brought Yukito here, but I could never find someone who'd be able to help me finish the whole thing…until you came along."

"Are you saying I have a big appetite…what are you doing?" Sakura asked a bit alarmed when the actor started to put his arms around her shoulders, and pulled her towards him.

"Don't look so panicked, the PRESS can see you, remember we need to act like a couple."

"Oh yeah, sorry I forgot."

"That's all right, so tell me Sakura, have you ever kissed anyone?"

At the question Sakura's face has become as red as the cherry that was on their ice cream a while ago. "No…"

"Well, now that we're going to be married, you're going to have to get used to _this._"

He slowly brought up her chin with his fingers, directing her gaze into his hazel eyes, and carefully he pulled her face closer to his and lightly placed his lips onto her petal soft lips. It was after all her first kiss, and he wanted to make sure that the first kiss would be special for her.

The kiss had started out simple and sweet, but Syaoran started to deepen the kiss a little tasting her natural flavor, numbing his senses. But he stopped immediately when he realized that the short kiss had almost turned out into something a little more passionate.

"Suma…I didn't mean to go that far, after all a first kiss should be short and sweet…"

"Iie, dajoubou…" she replied, her mind still in a haze after her very intense first kiss. She absolutely had no complaint, her first kiss had turned out to be sweet and at the same time something a little bit more intense.

And the PRESS, well they were all one happy group of shutterbugs!

**Author's Note: **Well there you go…an update…to assure you that I won't be dropping this fic and I even added a little kiss as a bonus for waiting for so long over this chapter. I just hope this chapter is enough to compensate for your long wait.

And though she didn't get to edit this one I'd still like to take this opportunity to thank my beta for sticking by me, and helping me …she really made this fic look way better after undergoing through her skilled beta-editing. You can compare this chapter with the past 3 chapter and you might see the difference, and you can tell that she really worked a lot on those. So please don't forget to thank her because she really works hard to beautify this fic and to get my fics done so I can post them earlier.

**[1] **stern and the bow- both ends of a boat

**Chibi Heero (jumps onto Kawaii Authoress and mauls her): **You're alive! And you're still continuing fics! Oh I was so worried! SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? START UPDATING MY STORY NOW!

**Kawaii Authoress: **And I thought you really missed me…hai…hai, but first the REPLY TO REVIEWS (Dances around with a big basket filled with reviews)

**Chibi Heero (stops music the Kawaii Authoress is dancing to): **Oh yeah you've been gone for so long… well kinda installed this thing wherein you can make a personal reply to your signed reviewers.

**Kawaii Authoress: **O_O I see…

**Black Rose: **Hi, there thank you so much for sticking by my fic for 5 months… I'm really sorry you had to wait that long. So I just want to let you know that you can give me your email ad and then I'll just be giving you a personal author alert on all my fics! I hope you liked this one and so worth your wait.


	5. Mama's Home

**Author's Note: **I'm alive! I know it's been so long since I've updated this fic, but I have a perfectly good reason! I was abducted by these 5 ninjas and they held me captive, torturing me and forcing me to write essays, reaction papers, research papers, and the other one even had me solving math problems :'c…it was horrible….

Oh and a little warning this too was not edited by my beta, because it was rushed, so please forgive me if you encounter some grammatical errors and typos along the way.

**Chibi Heero sweatdrop: **Oooookaaaaay! What a pathetic excuse, just get on with the fic before I forget to be nice.

**Kawaii Authoress: **Since when have you exactly been nice?

**Chibi Heero: **What did you say?! starts chasing Kawaii Authoress with his mobile suit

**Kawaii Authoress:** Waaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! All right here's the fic! ENJOY!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Chanel, and Guess…I wish I did though, and then I'd get lots of free designer stuffs! Life is soooooooo unfair! Oh and Lara Spencer does not work for me and I don't own The Insider show.

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Lexicon: **kireii- pretty, beautiful

Sou ka- I see

Imouto- little sister

**Chapter 5: Mama's Home**

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

In his usual calm manner, Syaoran pressed the snooze button of his alarm clock. To be honest he was already awake even before the device went off.

Today was the day.

Yukito was going to meet his _m__other _and the public was for the first time going to meet his wife. And he was nervous, what if they haven't thought things through and something goes horribly wrong? Thoughts were racing through his mind all night that he wasn't even able to get any sleep at all!

'What if the media finds out that Sakura was only pretending? How will the public take it? What if Sakura's family finds out? What will they do to her? What if they sue us for fraud? What if I get imprisoned? Maybe I should stop this whole thing before it even happens and become a bigger mess?'

No, there was no more time for second thoughts; the papers have already published photos of their date. There was no backing down now. They had been preparing for this day for weeks. And they had everything covered; there was no room for mistakes. And doubt was a luxury they couldn't afford.

Sighing he grabbed the pillow next to him and pressed it against his handsome face, wishing that it would suffocate him and kill him before things get complicated. But it seems that life had other plans for him and death was not it.

"Daddy! Wake up! Today's the day you're going to pick mommy up from the airport, remember?"

_grunt_

"Daddy! Wake up!"

"But it's still early…" he tried, hoping to delay the entire thing.

"Daddy if you don't get up…I'll..uhm…I'll sing!"

"Okay I'm up!'

'Hehehe, works every time…' Yukito giggled as he got off his bed and started to take a bath himself. He wanted to look his best for his mommy.

Syaoran followed his usual morning routine, shower, get dressed and eat breakfast, but he knew nothing about that particular day was usual.

While in the shower, Syaoran replayed his schedule: 'Eat breakfast, pick up Sakura at the airport, then an interview with The Insider at 5:00PM.'

"Please, don't let us mess this up." He cried out in frustration, though he knew he really shouldn't be so obvious, they have already drafted out questions that might be asked and they knew well what answers to give.

Slowly Syaoran headed for the dining hall, somehow all his movements were slowed down a bit as if something was weighing him down, and that something he believed was called _conscience_. Once he entered the hall he was a bit surprised to see , though he knew that he shouldn't have, the feast laid out on the table.

For a moment he almost forgot that his son could actually finish that much. Grinning he shook his head, 'How could I have forgotten? He has a stomach like his mom's…'

"Good morning Master Li." Their butler greeted as he handed a cup of steaming coffee to the actor.

"Good morning Wei, and thank you." Syaoran replied taking the mug and sitting on his chair, before he was joined by a very happy Yukito.

Seeing his son this happy made his heart stir and all his doubts disappeared. 'What was I so worried about anyway? If Yukito is going to happy, then this is the best thing to do. Nothing will go wrong.'

"Are you happy that mommy's coming back?"

"Yup! Um…daddy…if mommy already came back last time, why did she leave again? "

Syaoran froze in his position, the pancake mid-way to his hungry mouth. 'Crap….think Syaoran…think!'

Calmly, Syaoran settled the fork with the pancake on his plate and closed his gaping mouth, as he looked at his son's questioning eyes.

"Uhmmm…you see…she wanted to surprise you, but when she got here something came up, and she needed to leave. But don't worry, this time mommy's going to stay with us."

"Really?" his son asked his eyes beaming with pure joy at the thought of his mother never leaving him again.

"Yes, really. Now eat up, you want to look good and healthy when mommy comes back, don't you?"

"Hai!"

Syaoran could only smile as he watched his son devour the breakfast with much vigor. He almost scolded himself for thinking about trying to stop this whole plan, if he had done such thing, he might never see his son this happy ever again. And how could he rob Yukito of that? How could he rob Yukito his mother?

"Sakura, kireii!" Tomoyo sighed as she Sakura emerged from the airport's bathroom stall.

Hesitantly, Sakura approached the sink and viewed herself. "Wow…even I can't recognize myself…" she whispered feeling her face, combing her fingers through her auburn locks down to her new designer outfit.

She was currently wearing a beige trapeze top with a denim belt sash beneath her chest and black harem pants, a pair of black Chanel sling backs adorned her feet, on her right wrist stacked were colorful glittery square bangles –a cross between 60's mod and 80's punk, and on her left was a chunky Anne K. watch.

"Well that was the plan. Here, put them on." Meiling handed a small plastic case, and by the shape of it Sakura knew what was inside.

"Contacts?"

"To hide the color of your eyes."

Sakura nodded, she opened the case to find a pair of brown contacts. Taking a deep breath she realized that these contacts are what's going to separate her from being Sakura to being Yukito's mom. She put them on, carefully. Blinked her now brown eyes to accustom herself, and when she looked herself in the mirror, she knew full well that she was no longer Sakura.

"It looks pretty too." Meiling assured, when she noticed the doubtful look on Sakura's face. But she too knew that it wasn't as pretty her jade eyes.

"She's right, well, let's go I'm sure Li-sama is waiting for us outside." Tomoyo added as she gathered Sakura's clothes and headed for the door.

Sakura nodded and followed the two girls as they walked out, but before leaving, she took one last look in the mirror and sighed. For the reflection that looked back was no longer of Sakura Kinomoto's, but of a different woman.

Her transformation was complete, she was now Hikaru Li.

SsSsSsSsSsS

The brunette actor was currently leaning on his limo, arms crossed against his chest, his eyes glued to the direction of the gate waiting for the three ladies to come out. His expression calm, but deep down inside he was anything but calm. But he didn't want to show any signs of uncertainty.

At the sight of his sister and Tomoyo he straightened, but panicked when he realized that he couldn't find Sakura! As the two approached, he looked at them angrily, stopping them from their tracks.

"Where the hell is she?"

"Oh…that…hehehe…you scared me!" Meiling laughed slapping her brother's shoulder, "She's right behind us, see?"

And true enough, there was a beautiful woman standing behind them. In honesty Syaoran had noticed her tailing the two brunettes, but he hadn't recognized it to be Sakura.

"Li Syaoran, meet your wife." Meiling introduced, giggling at her brother's gaping look, and then giving a wink to Tomoyo at a job well done. 'It seems that even you didn't recognize her, we must've done better than we thought.'

Sakura could feel her face heating up and slowly lowered her head, looking away from Syaoran's intense gaze, "Ummm…what's the matter? Don't you like it?"

"No…I don't like it."

Sakura and the other girls' head snapped to look back at him, "You don't?!" they cried in unison.

Syaoran only shook his head as he reached for Sakura's left hand, slowly bringing it up to his now grinning lips, "I love it."

Tomoyo could only laugh as Sakura's color rivaled a tomato's, Meiling could only sigh in relief at her brother's little ruse. It was an old trick, but it still worked.

"Mou, Syaoran…you're such a flirt. Come on, let's go. Yukito is waiting for us!" The two nodded. While Sakura was saying her good-bye to her best friend, Syaoran whispered something to his sister, before getting inside the limo.

"Well I better be going as well." Tomoyo bid her two friends farewell and a good luck kiss to her best friend. And got inside her limousine as well, which was parked right behind Li's.

The two limousines headed off into separate directions.

As requested Meiling sat at the passenger's seat to give Syaoran and Sakura some privacy. "They really did well, I didn't recognize you."

"Yes, even I couldn't recognize myself."

"Your look is almost perfect."

"Almost?"

"Something is still missing."

"What?"

Syaoran almost laughed at the panicked expression on her face, it was really easy to scare her. Shifting in his seat, so he was facing her, he took something from his pocket and handed it to Sakura.

Sakura froze. "R-rings?"

Syaoran nodded as he opened the black velvet box to reveal three rings. "Married people should wear rings." He stated simply as he took the engagement ring from the box.

It was a white gold ring with a square sapphire stone surrounded by little diamonds.

He took Sakura's left hand and slowly slipped the ring to her left ring finger, Sakura watched mesmerized as the beautiful ring laid beautifully on her finger. She could tell that the ring was expensive, a little bit too expensive considering that they were only pretending.

She looked up at him with a questioning look, which he ignored as he took the two other rings, and handed the other one to her.

"Well, let's put it on each other…" he suggested, feeling a bit awkward. He didn't exactly know how they should wear the rings. He was thinking that they should wear it themselves, but he knew that the rings were too special to be worn in such a manner.

The rings were a symbol of uniting two people in holy matrimony, and to disrespect it is to disrespect the ceremony itself.

Taking a deep breath, he took Sakura's left hand once more, his eyes locked at Sakura's equally brown eyes. And as if in a trance he recited his vow, "In token and pledge of the vow made between us, with this ring I marry you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Sakura only nodded and slipped the ring on his ring finger, "In token and pledge of the vow made between us, with this ring I marry you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." She echoed, in a trance-like state.

"Amaya…" Syaoran whispered, as he slowly pulled the girl's body to him and lightly pressed his lips against hers.

But Sakura pulled back when the name he whispered registered in her mind. "No…Sakura." She murmured her eyes downcast.

"Go-gomen…the eyes…Amaya had brown eyes…"

"I know."

Meiling rested her head against the headrest, maybe she should have just given them their privacy after all and had not turn on the speaker earlier; she removed the headphones and sighed as she looked at the familiar road towards the Li Mansion. It hurt her to know that even now, after all those years that it wasn't just Yukito who haven't gotten over Amaya's death.

SsSsSsSsSsS

"Yukito! Come back here!" Nikki, Yukito's nanny, called as the toddler ran away with a bag of flour in his chubby hands.

"No! I need this flour to make mommy's favorite cookies!" he declared giggling as ran up to his room.

Nikki followed suit, but was stopped by Wei who held up his palm and smiled at the young girl, "It's okay, I'll take care of the Young Master."

"But he might make a mess…"

"Don't worry about it, I've never seen the Young Master this happy before, it's good for him."

"Hai, must be because he thinks his mommy is coming home."

Wei looked at her a bit sharply, reminding her to watch her tongue. Only a select few from the staff had been informed of Sakura's act and to keep it a secret even from their own families, and their salary had been doubled in exchange. So they needed to be careful in order not to divulge the family's little secret.

"Sorry…"

"It's fine. If you don't mind Nikki, please inform Ms. Jean to prepare the servants, Master Li will arrive shortly."

"Yes sir."

Sakura gazed in awe at the surrounding as the limo entered the gate, the last time she was there she had no chance of admiring the beauty of the gardens for it was already night. But now she could see the magnificent statue in the middle of the fountain, and the statues lining the pathways.

"Sakura, welcome to the Li Mansion!" Meiling whispered as she helped the girl out of the car, in fear of the others hearing her real name.

"It's so beautiful." She whispered.

As Meiling walked Sakura towards the door, she introduced Sakura to each of the monuments. "This one is the Guardian of the Wind, and that's the Guardian of the Water, over here is the Guardian of Wood, and my personal favorite Guardian of Fire."

Once they reached the door, Sakura noticed an identical monument on each side of the door, their arms that were held out to hold each other were actually the door's handle. Sakura noticed that although they look completely alike they had a lot of difference. "They are Darkness and Light, like the Yin-Yang only in human form." Meiling supplied.

"Are you ready Sakura?" Syaoran asked, taking her hand into his.

Sakura only smiled and shook her head slowly, earning a shocked reaction from the two Li's "No, Hikaru, remember?'

The two giggled, "She's right Syaoran. From this day on, she's Hikaru."

"Just open the door, Meiling."

"What no please? Okay, okay. Mr. and Mrs. Li, welcome home!"

The door opened to reveal the mansion in its magnificence; the three were greeted by the servants. They were all separated into groups depending on their work.

"These are the cooks they work 24/7 because Yukito sometimes want midnight snacks, the group wearing a green uniform tends to the gardens, and those in black naturally are the ones who tends everything else. And everyone this is Mistress Li Hikaru. "

"Good afternoon Mrs. Li." They all greeted bowing at her in greeting.

"Good afternoon as well, I'm really happy to meet all of you."

"All right then, everybody, thank you for your time. Please continue with your work." Meiling dismissed.

Just then a young girl came up, "Ah, Hikaru this is Nikki, she is Yukito's nanny. By the way, where is he?"

"He's inside the playroom Master Syaoran, with Wei-san, if you would please follow me."

The door was open when the group got there and, Wei was sitting beside Yukito, and when he saw them nodded in greeting, the others bowed in greeting as well. From where they were they could see Yukito with his back turned to them watching the plastic oven with eager eyes.

"I hope it finishes baking real soon. I want the cookies to be ready before mommy gets here. Ne, Wei-san, do you think mommy will like my cookies?"

"Why don't you ask her little one..."

As if on cue Sakura entered the room just as Yukito turned to look behind him, tears filled his eyes as he recognized the angelic face of his mother smiling down on him.

Sakura felt a twinge in her heart at the smile she saw on his face, Yukito was currently covered in flour from the cookies he tried to bake for her- no his mother. She didn't know how to feel! This boy was so happy at seeing her that he even tried to bake cookies for her, making such a mess just so he could make his _mommy_ happy, but here she was deceiving him.

She knew it wasn't right to trick him like this, but he was so happy right now. And she wanted him to stay happy. And to do that she knew that she had to be his mother, maybe it isn't legal by blood or by papers but she can still love him like any mother would.

"I'm home, sweetie."

'Could this be a dream?' Carefully Yukito got up and walked towards the woman standing across from him, hesitantly he reached out to touch her fearing that if it was a dream she'd disappear. But when she didn't, he tightened his hold and cried. "It is you!"

Sakura returned the hug as well with much vigor, somehow her motherly-nature seemed to have taken over and she hugged the boy as if he was hers and as if they haven't seen each other for a long time. She held him so tightly and she inhaled his scent which smelled like baby powder, and showered his chubby, flour-stained face with loving kisses as tears run freely down her cheeks.

"Oh mommy you're home! Don't ever leave me again, please!"

"Yes sweetie! I'm home and I'll never leave you, never!"

SsSsSsSsSsS

A week later…

"I'm home!" Touya announced, and he was immediately greeted by his son jumping onto him.

"Yay! Daddy's home!"

"Sure am! So did you behave like I told you to?"

"Yes daddy, I was a good boy!"

"Where's your au- oh yeah…" Touya sighed, missing his imouto already, he placed Eriol down and followed him towards the living room to find everyone seated on the couch tuned into their favorite TV show _The Insider_. This was what Mizuki called, "Family Time".

"I'm home, just thought you guys might like to know that…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, honey..ssshhhh you made it just in time for the interview."

"What interview?"

"Well, apparently the Li Syaoran has been secretly dating a woman and now he's going to introduce her to the public!"

"Tomoyo? What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know, Sakura told me to watch you guys, so here I am…watching."

"Ssshhh, it's starting."

"Dad? You're interested in this too?"

Fujitaka could only grin at his son; he couldn't blame himself, the story sounded intriguing.

Sighing in defeat Touya turned to the television set and decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just watch with them. After all he needed to keep himself up-to-date with the news.

"_Welcome back, for the past month the entire world was stirred when international actor Li Syaoran was seen in Tomoeda with a girl."_

_The screen flashed a photo of the couple kissing._

"Hey that looks like Sakura!" Touya announced.

"Impossible, besides there are a lot of people who could look like Sakura." Tomoyo quickly covered, having already been prepared for that outburst.

"She's right, besides how can you see clearly, you can only see the side of her face."

"_And now for the very first time, only here in The Insider, where only I was allowed to interview the couple inside their mansion in Tomoeda, Japan."_

_The screen then changed to Lara Spencer inside the mansion, and seated across from her on the leather sofa was Syaoran._

"_So Syaoran, good evening, thank you so much for inviting us here inside your lovely home."_

"_You're very welcome."_

"_Anyway, so I'll get straight to the point, because like everyone else, I too am excited to find out just who was that girl you were with in the ice cream shop and what her relationship is with you."_

"_Well Lara, this might surprise you, but she's my wife."_

_There was bit of a pause as Lara tried to recover from the shock of the news, Syaoran could only smile as he placed his right leg on his left knee._

"_W-wow, that was a surprise! But how come we've never seen her or heard about her."_

"_Well it was pretty much in secret. Even the wedding was just a small family gathering. And you know after we got married, I realize that I just can't keep it a secret anymore, so I've decided to introduce her."_

_The camera then turned towards the stairs where a woman with the most beautiful auburn locks descended and joined Syaoran, who stood up and gave his wife a brief kiss on the lips._

"_Wow, you look so beautiful."_

"_Thank you."_

"_So before I ask any questions I'd just like to know, I think the entire world also want to know what your name is."_

"_I'm Hikaru Li."_

"_So how long have you guys been dating?"_

"_Five months." Hikaru answered, intertwining her fingers with Syaoran._

"_Actually, I'd like to ask how come you look so different from the picture, I mean I barely recognized you."_

"_No, Lara she's just really much prettier in person." Syaoran joked kissing their joined hands._

"_Seriously now, I had to wear a disguise because I didn't want to be recognized."_

_The camera then zoomed into Hikaru's face, so the viewers could compare her from the image._

"See honey, she was just wearing a disguise."

"Yeah, besides she looks way prettier than Sakura, and Sakura has absolutely no fashion sense in her, but Sakura's green eyes are prettier than hers." Tomoyo covered.

"Yeah." The others nodded as they continued to watch the interview.

"_Yukito has never been happier to have a mother. In fact that was how I met her, Yukito and I were in the beach in California, when suddenly he saw Hikaru inside an ice cream shop and started calling her mommy and made a commotion."_

"Yeah, remember when I met him, when his son got lost? He told us that he has a tendency to call anyone with red head his mommy."

"Oh poor kid." Mizuki sympathized, hugging her son a little bit tighter than normal.

"Well he has a new mommy now, and I'm sure he must be so happy." Tomoyo interrupted watching the scene before her and smiled. 'Yes, they must be so happy.'

_Yukito ran into his parents arms, but settled on his father's lap. Hikaru kissed the boy lovingly and Syaoran ruffled his son's gray locks._

_The scene then returned to Lara inside the The Insider studio, "And there you have it Pat, an exclusive interview with the Li family. Actually I've learned that Hikaru means Light in Japanese."_

"_Well it seems that Hikaru has lighted up not just Syaoran's and Yukito's life but the entire household as well." Pat replied from the studio._

"_She sure has, Pat."_

Mizuki turned the TV off, "Isn't that so nice, they're now one big happy family."

"Mommy, that lady looks like Aunty Sakura."

"Awww you must be missing her so much…"

"Yeah…"

"Don't worry. Your Aunty Sakura must be having a fun time in France right now. Why don't you go to bed, sport? Tomorrow's your first day in class. Now say good night."

"Okay. Good night grandpa, good night mommy, good night auntie Tomoyo, good night daddy." He greeted, giving them each a quick kiss on the cheek as he said his good-night.

Meanwhile…

Sakura was sitting on her dresser; Yukito was currently brushing her hair, "99, 100!"

"Wow, you really did a good job sweetie, it's so shiny. Now how about we go to bed, tomorrow's your first day in school, remember?"

"But I don't want to go to sleep, yet…'

Sakura gave her son a look, before suddenly assaulting his small body with merciless tickles.

"Hahahaha! Stop! Stop!"

"Will you go to sleep?" she asked, pausing, allowing her son to breathe.

"No! Never!"

"Oh really?" Sakura immediately resumed her torture, tickling the boy, until they were already on the floor.

"Okay! I'll sleep! I'll sleep!"

"Now that's a good boy, do you want to sleep with mommy and daddy again?"

"Are you sure? Won't daddy get mad?"

"No, why would he ever get mad?"

"Because don't daddies usually want to sleep with mommies alone?"

Sakura could only smile and lightly pecked him on the forehead before lifting the boy up in her arms and laying her on their bed. Actually Syaoran and Sakura have been very grateful of the fact that Yukito sleeps with them, that way they don't have to sleep together in one bed. Just the two of them.

As usual, Syaoran got home late; they had to shoot most of the martial arts scenes that day. And his body was screaming for a hot shower and a long rest.

When he got inside his room- no his and Hikaru's room, he was greeted by the warming sight of his wife and his son sleeping in bed, cuddled up together.

Watching her sleep, really made him observe just how much she really resembles his late wife. His fingers lightly followed the outline of her face, and brush away a few strands of auburn hair, when suddenly he heard a low guttural sound coming from the angelic being.

'Except she snores.'

**Author's Notes: **Well I hope it wasn't dragging. I made it long to make up for the late update. But don't worry, now that Sakura has been settled into Syaoran's household let's have some fun! Though I have to be honest, it might take me a long time to update, but I assure you that I won't be stopping this fic.

Oh and thank you for you guys who has remained loyal to my fic! And for your wonderful reviews that kept on encouraging me to update my fics. I love you all so much and God bless!

**1 She will be known as Hikaru and not Amaya, she's just pretending to be Yukito's mother but not Syaoran's old wife for legal reasons. So the media will recognize her as his second wife, but Yukito won't even know that there was a difference. Just in case I got someone confused, because I felt like maybe I wasn't explaining it enough…**

**2 I know the vow may sound different from what you usually see in TV shows and movies, but that was what is said in the manual of wedding ceremonies. Can't argue with the manual. **

**3 The interview thing was a bit hard, because well, The Insider usually just cuts up the interview part showing only bits of information. Like the person being interviewed would be talking about her pregnancy in just one minute and later on she'll be talking about her love life in just a flash. I mean it switches from one answer to another.**


	6. Christmas Wish

**Author's Note: **Here's a late Christmas and an early New Year present for you guys. Oh and for sound effects, I italicized them as well, but not all italic words are sound effects...I just did that because somehow won't process them if they were between symbols...

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Lexicon: **I know you guys are probably familiar with these words and how they work, but I decided it's much more helpful in case there are readers who are new to them.

Ohayou- Mornin'

Matte- Wait

Nani-What

Yamero-Stop

Gomen- Sorry

Onii-san- Big Brother

Tadaima- I'm home

**Chibi Heero: **So without further ado…

**Chapter 6: Christmas Wish**

A soft light bathed the small figure who was still sound asleep in his bed, coaxing him to wake up to the new day. The boy cringed, turning his back to his bedroom window, and wrapping his blankets, closer to him.

"Ohayou, Yukito-sama! Time to get up!" Nikki greeted as she entered the toddler's room.

"I don't want to, it's still too early…besides I don't have school…" the boy reasoned.

"But you have to wake up; don't you know what day it is today?" she asked as she removed the covers off the boy, and waited patiently for him to realize what was so special about that cold day. '3, 2, 1…'

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It's-"

SsSsSsSsSsSsS

"Mommy! Wake up!" Yukito cried jumping into his mother's bed, waking her in the process.

"I'm up! I'm up! What's ..._smooch..._gotten you ... _smooch..._ so excited?" Sakura greeted, holding her _son_ in her arms and showering him with loving kisses.

"Ahahahah! Mommy stop, it's disgusting! You haven't brushed your teeth yet!" the boy retorted, as he climbed out of his mother's arms.

"You think that'll stop me, huh? Come here and give mommy a kiss!" she cried as she got off the bed to chase Yukito. Nikki stayed by the doorway, watching the mother and son and smiled happily for the two of them; she had never seen Yukito so happy, especially on this day.

"Aha got you! Now give me a kiss!" Yukito resisted turning his head from side to side, but it seems that his mommy had no plans of letting him go unless she gave him a kiss, which he later on happily complied with- one big kiss on his chubby cheek.

"Hahaha, mommy, do you know what day it is today?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow and turned to look out the window, "Hoe! It's snowing!" a big smile crossed her face as she realized that it was the day that she been waiting for all month! "Of course I do! It's Christmas!"

"And?" Yukito nodded, his large gray eyes shining with excitement as he prompted his mommy to continue.

"What else is there?" She asked, smiling innocently at the boy in her arms.

Yukito's eyes widened at the response, he felt his world crumble at the four-word question, he lowered his head so his mommy wouldn't see the tears that were threatening to spill down his eyes, "What kind of mother forgets her own son's birthday?"

Without another word, Yukito left the room leaving a stunned Sakura. Sakura turned to Nikki with a questioning look, only to find that Nikki too was in great shock.. "Syaoran-sama forgot to tell that today is Yukito-sama's birthday!"

"Yukito! Matte!" Sakura cried, chasing after her son, she felt as if a cold knife cut through her heart when she recalled perfectly the look on his face when he realized that she really didn't know it was his birthday.

Footsteps could be heard rushing up the stairs, then down the hall towards a blue door he knew so well, as he neared said door the servants that were gathered made way for him, "What happened to Yukito?" he asked, looking at Meiling and Sakura, a bit breathless from the travel.

"Yukito locked himself in his room again." Meiling answered, leaving out the reason that led him to his tantrum.

"Nani?" Releasing a frustrated sigh, he pushed the two women aside and lightly tapped on the door.

"Yukito? Daddy's here, why don't you open the door and we'll go out for some ice cream?"

"I don't want ice cream!" came the muffled reply.

"Yukito, come out there. It's not good to stay locked up in your room all day, especially on your birthday."

At that those words Sakura felt another stab into her already wounded heart, she knew she hurt Yukito badly with that fatal mistake and there was nothing she could do to ease the boy. 'Mou why did I not know it was his birthday!' she scolded herself.

"You should tell mommy that!"

"Huh?"

"She was the one who forgot my birthday!"

Syaoran was taken aback, and gave Sakura an angry look. "You forgot his birthday?!"

"I didn't forget his birthday!" she defended, not at all liking the look Syaoran was giving her, it was making her feel less like a mother. "You forgot to tell me that today was his birthday!"

"That's not my job! You're his mother! How can you forget his birthday? What kind of a mother are you?"

"You're asking me! How in the world can I know? I'm not his _birthmother_!" Sakura whispered the last word; so that Yukito wouldn't hear.**1**

"And how dare you accuse me of not being a good mother! What about you? What kind of a father are you who work during his son's birthday and on Christmas? You don't even have time for your family, and you didn't even have time to bother to tell me what today is! Today is very special for your son, and your family, and how did you choose to spend it? At work!"

"I work for this family, to keep you guys alive! If I didn't work how do you think you guys can eat three square meals a day? We won't have a house to live in!"

"That's not enough! Being a father is more than that! Being a family is not like that!"

"Don't talk to me on what a family should be! You are NOT my-"

"Yamero!" Yukito cried opening the door, revealing his disheveled appearance, his eyes were puffy and red, clothes wrinkled and his hair was in disarray, he looked at his mommy then his daddy with sad angry eyes, "This is my birthday, and none of you cared about it! I hate you both! I hope I never see your faces again!"

And with those hurtful words, Yukito ran.

"_I hate you!"_

Both Sakura and Syaoran remained still, the very words of the young snow rabbit reverberating in their minds. The words cut like a knife, the memory of his sad face was heartbreaking.

Everyone else remained motionless surprised by Yukito's actions, they have never seen Yukito act like that! They were so shocked by Yukito's actions that it took them some time to realize that they should run after the boy before he gets too far!

"Yukito!" Sakura screamed, her knees buckling underneath her, falling into Meiling's arms.

"What are you standing here for? Hurry up and look for him!"

Hours passed and they still couldn't find him, Sakura and Meiling were left behind in case any of the servants find Yukito they could be informed immediately, so they may contact Syaoran through his private line.

Meiling watched Sakura as she fixed some of Yukito's toys, from the looks of the room they could tell that the boy had been throwing his toys all over the room again. Yukito was a bit of a spoiled brat, but that was because he craved the attention and love of his parents. Syaoran was always out shooting his films or on photo shoots, and he didn't have any mother at all; Yukito was a lonely boy.

Sakura slowly picked up a slightly torn teddy bear and held it in her arms tightly, the feeling of not having Yukito in her arms was indescribable. She felt hollow, and cold, as if everything just won't be okay if Yukito wasn't there in her arms. Even worse pictures of Yukito getting injured, or crying kept flashing in her mind!

"If...if something...bad happens... _sob_...I'll never be able to forgive myself!"

"Sakura, please stop crying, it's not your fault…it's no one's fault." Meiling comforted, as she rubbed the other girl's back.

"Still, I could've been more careful…and now Yukito is out there somewhere, he must be so scared, alone in the city, lost, and cold!

"How were you supposed to know that this day was more than just Christmas for Yukito? He never mentioned it, and no one ever mentioned it."

"Because they all expected me to know, because a mother ALWAYS knows…I should've felt it, from the way Yukito acted, but I wasn't able to tell! Everyone knows that a mother has some sort of _mother's instinct _that allows her to read her own son's emotions…"

"Sakura, it can't be helped; you are not his real mother…"

"But he thinks that I am…" Sakura countered finally, "Gomen, I know you're just trying to make me feel better, but I won't feel better until Yukito is safe here in my arms. I mean what if he catches a cold, or worst! What if he gets kidnapped?"

Despite of the obvious panic Meiling couldn't help but smile at Sakura's actions, 'She really loves Yukito as if he was her own son…'

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll hear from them soon…"

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!_

The two stared at each other, before hurriedly rushing to answer the phone. "Moshi, moshi, Li Residence, this is Meiling."

Sakura waited patiently for the call to finish, watching Meiling's every move and listening intently to her responses.

"Yes. Yes he is. Yes. Yes. That's him! Where? Okay, I see…I'll call him right away, thank you so much." Meiling replaced the phone, and gave Sakura a hopeful look.

"They found him?"

"Yes, they said a group of teenagers saw a kid with gray hair going towards the amusement park! I'm going to call Syaoran immediately and tell him to meet us there." Meiling replied as she dialed the number to her brother's mobile.

"Maybe I should contact the park, ask them to help us look for Yukito." Sakura added as she pulled out her mobile from her jeans. But just as she was about to dial the number, another problem had presented itself causing her to drop said phone.

"Oh no! Touya!"

SsSsSsSsS

Somewhere in the main office of the Tomoeda Amusement Park, a Touya Kinomoto was busy reviewing the latest reports when suddenly he felt something…tickling his nose.

"Achoo!"

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…Must be the cold, I'm fine…" He answered in an offhand manner as he returned to his papers.

At the park's entrance, two female figures were walking back and forth nervously as they waited for someone.

"What are we going to do?"

"Ne, Sakura are you sure your brother would recognize you even under the disguise?"

"It can't be helped! Onii-san can always tell if it's me, no matter what disguise I'm in, when I was in fourth grade I was able to trick everyone into thinking that I was some other guy except my brother. No matter how convincing my disguise is, he can always tell that it's me! It's like his sixth sense!"

"Then what should we do?" The two stopped their pacing as they tried to come up with a plan to avoid blowing their cover.

"Meiling!" The two looked up from their current position to find Wei and Syaoran and a few other servants running towards them. "Did they find him yet?"

"No, we haven't called Customer Services yet." Hikaru answered meekly, hoping that Syaoran could read minds and understand why they cannot, and MUST NOT contact Customer Services. However, Li Syaoran has no such ability.

"Well what are you two waiting for? Hikaru, Meiling come with me, Wei lead the others and look for Yukito."

"Hai!" they answered, before rushing off towards different direction, they absolutely had no time to lose.

While running towards the main office, Sakura kept thinking of ways on how she could keep her brother from noticing. One look at her, and she was sure that he would see right through her disguise, not even the contacts can help.

'Sakura think! Think! You mustn't let Touya see your face!'

Just then, Sakura found herself facing the main office's door once again, only this time she was Li Hikaru; and hopefully that was how her brother would see her. But before entering the office, Meiling moved back to allow Syaoran first and to whisper something to her sister-in-law.

"Stay behind Syaoran and me, and keep your head down so he won't see you."

"Hai."

Somewhere in the amusement park, a boy wearing a blue sweater with a small yellow moon embroidered in the middle of his chest and dark blue jeans can be seen sitting on one of the horses in the grand carousel. He turned to look at his surroundings, it was already dark and the moon was full, serving as his only illumination, surprisingly there was no one watching the ride, and the lights were shut off.

Yukito looked down at his small chubby hands, balling them into little fists in his anger, warm tear drops fell on his hands surprising even him. "I won't cry…I hate them!" he shouted, wiping his tears with his arm.

"You must be cold."

"Who's there?" the boy demanded, turning to the direction of the voice. A woman, with a cap on wearing the uniform of the park walked closer, and if Yukito didn't think that Sakura was his mother he would've called the woman his mommy because of her long auburn hair.

"Here put this on." She handed him a yellow scarf, which he eagerly wrapped around his neck. "I'm the attendant of this ride, what are you doing here? The carousel is out of order. Where are your parents?"

"I have no parents! I ran away from home."

Shocked at the answer, she approached the boy and sat on the horse next to his. "Why did you do that?"

"Because they don't love me…"

"Now what made you think that?"

"Today is my birthday…My daddy always goes to work even on my birthday, and he always leaves me behind, and I'm always alone."

"What about your mommy?"

"She left us. Daddy told me that she left to go somewhere, and everyday that he leaves for work, I'd wish she'd come back so I wouldn't feel so lonely anymore…"

No longer able to hold his emotions back, Yukito cried, hugging the neck of the ceramic horse, but since he was just a kid he didn't just cried, he bawled. Surprisingly the woman did not panic; instead she took the little boy in her arms and patted his head.

"All I ever wanted was to celebrate my birthday... _sob..._ and Christmas with my family, and now that mommy came home I thought my wish was going to come true, I thought that now that mommy's come hom_e...sob_...it means daddy will want to stay with me more and we can all spend Christmas together.._sob_... But just this morning, daddy had left for work again and mommy…_sob... _mommy _...sob..._ forgot my birthday!

I thought Christmas..._sob_ was a time to spend with your family, to be with..._sob..._ the people that love you, but I guess they don't love me..._sob_... because they forgot my birthday!"

"I'm sure that's not true. No parent can ever stop loving their child." She answered, placing a gentle kiss on the child's head.

Yukito looked up from his curled position, but he still couldn't make out the face of the stranger, but he could tell that she was smiling gently at him.

"But they forgot my birthday, so that means they don't care!"

The girl just smiled as she wiped his tears, and held her tightly in her arms. 'She's so warm.' Yukito thought as he nestled himself in the kind stranger's embrace. Somehow he felt light inside, and the anger and sadness just seemed to melt away.

"Parents make mistakes, and sometimes they might hurt you, but it doesn't mean they don't love you. Even before you were born, I'm sure your mommy loved you already. And right now, I'm sure they must be so worried looking for you…"

"No they're not! And even if they find me, I won't come home! I don't love them!" he cried, shaking his head, somehow the embrace made him forget that he was angry with his parents.

"You can keep on saying that, but deep down inside you know full well that you love them so much. And even though you hurt them by saying that, I know for sure that they know you didn't mean it and are doing their best to look for you."

Once again, hot tears rushed down his gray eyes as he buried his face into the stranger's arms. He couldn't believe that what the stranger had said was true, she read him so well! No matter how much he denied it, no matter how angry he was, he still and always love his parents. She read him so well as if she knew him...

"I do, I do, I love them so much!"

SsSsSsSsSsS

"Meiling, what's wrong with Sakura?" Syaoran whispered, noticing Sakura's weird behavior. And by weird he meant that every time Touya would turn toward the girl's direction she would always find a way to cover her face.

At first she would hide behind him, but when they decided to split up to look for the boy she would find other -dare I say it?- strange ways to cover herself. When Touya came close to ask her a question she immediately grabbed a balloon from the nearby stall and masked her face.

"She doesn't want her brother to see her face, she says that even with a disguise he might still be able to tell that it is her. She says he has a very strong sixth sense or something like that…"

He had to admit she was good at hiding her face, like when she tripped on a wire and Touya helped her up she immediately rammed her head on one the stalls to have an alibi to cover her face.

"I'm okay! I'm okay! I'm just clumsy, that's all...please don't mind me..."

Syaoran had to hold himself from laughing, he knew he was supposed to be worried right now about Yukito, but seeing Sakura like that, with a big swelling red bump on her forehead and her face scrunched up like so from the pain just made want to laugh out loud, but he need to hold himself back, after all she was doing this for them. "kawaii..."

Touya then suggested they check out the carousel since it was the last place they haven't searched; Sakura was currently behind the group nursing her bump. Syaoran smiled, he had to admit that she was really trying her best not to blow her cover; he really should give her more credit than he usually does. He slowed his pace, so that he could walk side-by-side Sakura. "Hikaru, does your head still hurt?"

"I don't know, maybe you should hit your head and then I'll ask you that same question! Of course it does!" she cried her hands still on her forehead.

"Well nobody told you to hit your head THAT hard!" he hissed back.

"If I didn't, then I won't have a good reason to have my hands on my face like this then our cover would be blown!" she countered, while the both of them stopped walking to argue without the group hearing.

"Fine, I was just worried!" just as she was about to walk pass her, Sakura grabbed his wrist and smiled tiredly at him.

"I'm sorry; I don't mean to seem so annoyed, it's just that I have a lot on my mind right now. My head really hurts, and I always need to keep my guard up so onii-san won't see me and up until now we still can't find Yukito!"

Syaoran felt his heart melt at the look of worry in her chocolate eyes; she really loved Yukito, and he was thankful for that, he really appreciated this person beside him. Thanks to her, Yukito had been very happy; his tantrums had stopped until this one.

He cupped the side of her face softly and whispered, "I'm sorry, it was my fault. I should've told you that today is his birthday; I should've been there for you and Yukito. I thought that it was enough that Yukito had his mother, I guess he also wanted me to be there; he wanted a family."

"Syaoran…" Sakura could feel her face heat up; she never thought she would ever see this side of her crush, all the public ever sees are the personality of the characters he takes on in his movies and his arrogant and stoic nature whenever he shows up in interviews. 'I never knew he had such a mature and loving side to him.'

"Don't worry, we'll find him for sure." and with those words, he wrapped his arms around her shivering frame, "Everything will be be okay."

"Oi," The couple turned to the call and were shocked to see that everyone was looking at them, including Touya, both Sakura and Syaoran panicked to hide her face that Syaoran did the first thing that came to mind.

The hand that was tenderly cupping her cheek was moved over her small face, and started moving around her face as if he was applying something

Everyone sweat dropped.

"Um…hahaha…I was just massaging her face."

"Okay, um you guys suddenly disappeared behind us… the carousel is just over there." Touya pointed to the direction of a carousel in the dark.

"Why is it so dark?" Meiling asked distracting the group from the couple behind them. The group resumed walking closer to the carousel not wanting to waste any time, it was very dangerous for a kid to be lost in a park full of people.

"The carousel broke just recently, and the mechanic won't be able to fix it until next week."

Sakura took advantage of the time and removed the smothering hand from her face and breathed. "_pant_ you nearly _pant_ killed me!" she hissed.

"Sorry…" he apologized, seeing his _wife's _face turn from blue to red in just a flash.

Sakura was about to retort, when the heard a voice as they got closer to the carousel.

"I know they love me, but sometimes I just wish they're with me all the time. Am I selfish for wanting mommy and daddy all to myself?"

'That voice!' Sakura felt her heart flutter when she recognized the meek voice, it was as if all the worry melted away and warm tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at Syaoran and nodded.

"Yukito…" Sakura whispered, immediately Syaoran and Sakura ran past the others and hurried towards the carousel, but stopped somewhere near the carousel when they heard Yukito talking.

"I know that they love me, and I love them so much..._sob..._and I wanna go home, but I don't know how..._sob_ …And they must hate me now_...sob..._ after what I said…all I ever wanted..._sob..._ was to be with them for Christmas, that's all."

"Yukito!"

Said child looked up from his position to the direction of the voice, but he couldn't see anything because it was too dark. "Mommy?"

"Yukito!" the voice called out again but this time Yukito could see a figure running towards his direction, he hurriedly jump off the ceramic horse and ran to meet the figure. He didn't need to see the face to know who it was.

"Mommy!" He shouted as he jumped into his mother's embrace.

"Yukito, sweetie, I'm so sorry!" she cried as she tightened her embrace, tears running freely down her eyes, now that she knew that he was safe. All the worry she had all day seemed to have vanished the moment she held onto his little body.

"Yukito!" a stronger voice this time called out. The boy looked up to see his father running towards them.

"Daddy!" he cried out as Syaoran embraced his wife and son.

"I'm so sorry! I'll never run away again I promise."

"Yukito! We're so sorry! It shouldn't have been just about you and your mother; I should've been there for you as well. From now on we're going to be like a family…I promise." Syaoran whispered as he wrapped his arms around his _wife_ and son.

"It's snowing again!" Yukito announced as he tried to catch the snow with his tongue. The couple looked up to see the crystals shower down on them lightly.

"Yukito, sweetie you must be cold, here put on my scar- oh, Yuki, sweetie, where did you get this scarf?" Hikaru asked.

"Oh, this nice lady gave it to me."

"Lady? Where?"

"She's over there by the carousel!" The trio turned to look at the carousel but found no one.

"Where did she go? I was just talking to her a while ago…"

"I didn't see anyone there with you…I thought you were just talking to yourself…"

"She disappeared…" Yukito whispered.

Syaoran was about to consider it as one of his son's imaginary friends, but when he looked at the scarf around his son's neck his eyes widened in surprise as he saw the small name embroidered on the bottom a figure of a snow rabbit.

"_Amaya what are you doing?"_

"_I'm making a scarf for our little snow rabbit."_

"_Do you really plan on naming our son Yukito?"_

"_Of course it's perfect! The doctor said that we can expect him somewhere near Christmas, and it usually snows a lot around that time…"_

"_Hai, all right Yukito it is…"_

'She never got to finish that scarf for him…' "Amaya…"

"Did you say something?" Sakura asked who was still busy fixing their son's scarf.

"Nothing…" he replied, "Let's go home." And with that Syaoran took Yukito from Sakura and placed him over his shoulders.

"Daddy, maybe she was a Christmas angel!"

Syaoran stopped in his walk, and lowered his son so they were eye-to-eye, "Yes, Yuki, she was your Christmas angel." He answered planting a soft kiss on his son's forehead.

Meiling, along with Touya and the others were waiting by the Pie Throwing stall for the family to come back; they decided they needed some privacy to sort things out. Meiling felt her heart twinge at the sight of the approaching family; she had never seen Syaoran and Yukito look so happy together.

Somehow the death of Amaya had damaged even Syaoran's relationship with his son; ever since she died he had always buried himself in work to distract him from the loss of his beloved wife. And Yukito had been so lonely. But now, thanks to Sakura maybe she could mend the broken family ties.

But just as the family got closer a sense of dread came over her as she realized that Touya was going to see Sakura's face!

Panicking she grabbed the closest thing to her and threw it at Sakura's face!

Unfortunately the closest thing to her was a cream pie from the Pie Throwing stall. Everyone just sweat dropped.

SsSsSsSsSsS

"Tadaima!" Touya called out as he entered the house, brushing off the snow on his jacket.

"Daddy's home!" Eriol cried running down the stairs, with only a towel around his waist, with his mother running after him with his clothes in her hands.

"Ora, Eriol-kun come back here, you're not dressed yet!"

"Daddy!" he proclaimed jumping into his father's strong arms, and was later on joined by his beautiful mother.

"Welcome home son! I thought you said you were going to work over time tonight…" Fujitaka greeted as he finished setting the table for their Christmas dinner.

"Well today's Christmas, and it's more important that I spend my time with my family and not with my work."

Kaho smiled as she kissed her husband and the four of them entered the dining room.

"By the way, Li Syaoran gave us a Christmas ham as a present."

"Li Syaoran? Why would he give us a ham?" she asked as she dressed Eriol up for dinner.

"Well it was more like a token of his appreciation for helping him find his son, again."

"Again?" Fujitaka asked.

"Yeah, this time he ran away from home."

"Oh did you get a chance to see his wife?" Kaho asked, a bit curious as to how she looked like in person.

"Well sorta, it's really weird actually…it's like the entire family wanted to cover her face…"

Everyone gave him a curious look, but he just shrugged his shoulders and brushed it off.

SsSsSsSsS

"Happy Birthday Yukito!" Sakura, Syaoran, Meiling, and their special guest Tomoyo greeted as the chef took out the boy's birthday cake. The cake was shaped like a Christmas tree with a rabbit on the center and five candles on each side.

"Well Yukito, come on blow the candles and make a wish." Meiling prompted, as she held on to the Polaroid to capture Yukito blowing on his birthday candles

"But I already have my wish." He replied with a big smile on his adorable face.

"What wish is that?" Tomoyo asked.

Yukito looked at his right where his mommy was, and to his left where his daddy was and smiled at his aunt as he gave his answer, "To be with my mommy and daddy today."

Both Sakura and Syaoran smiled at the sweet reply and bent down to give their son a loving kiss.

_CLICK!_

On the floor a Polaroid print out landed where you can see the picture of a happy family on Christmas day.

**Author's Note: **Happy holidays everyone! I'm sorry if it's a little short, but I hope you liked it. And it's been a while, and since this is rushed, I wasn't able to give it to my beta again, so please excuse the grammatical and typographical errors.

In case of any confusion, please be reminded that the public knows that "Hikaru" is Syaoran's second wife, but Yukito sees her as his real mother…since he never knew her name in the first place. But in my narration I'll refer to her as Sakura and Hikaru interchangeably.

I love you all! Belated Merry Christmas and an Advanced Happy New Year!


	7. The Perfect Family Picture

**Author's Note:** Sorry this took so long, that even my Author's Note had to be updated...this still is un-beta-ed my beta is busy with work and since it was my birthday yesterday i thought I could just you know upload it for your sake. So forgive the grammar errors, this chapter will be really long and i'll be giving my replies to the prev and this new chapter's review in a few days thanks...

By the way, the review replies for this chapter will be given right after I open the review, unlike what I used to do where I would only reply once I have uploaded a chapter. It's just that I'm getting so many reivews for this story it's hard to reply to all in just one day.

**Prev. Author's Note: **Hey guys! It's been sooooooooo long hasn't it? Did you all miss me? I'm sure you did, especially my update (",) so anyway, I won't prolong it any longer, shall we?

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Warning:** This chapter will be a bit of a PG-13 for um bits of intensity (?) so if you don't reach the age limit please read it with someone older or at least be responsible. But don't worry the rest of the fic will be okay for kids. Or if you let your younger siblings read this, you can just copy-paste and erase some of the parts…just you know I will not be responsible for corrupting young minds, you have been warned.

**Lexicon:**

-san- the suffix to represent Mr. or Ms., a formality normally used by kids when they address someone older, but people of the same age could also use it to show respect especially if the two people aren't really close.

Hai- yes, I agree, okay…you get it Ü

**Chapter 7: The Perfect Family Picture**

It was currently 1:00 in the afternoon and Hikaru was sitting on the couch her eyes glued to the clock on the wall. There was nothing to watch, and she had nothing to do, therefore she was completely bored out of her wits-Yukito was in school so there's been no one to play with and Syaoran was at work! It was always like that, she was always left alone in the house with nothing to do, and she couldn't even help with the housework!

Sighing she lays herself on the couch un-gracefully, and opted to just sleep the afternoon off.

"Bored?" Inquired a deep male voice as he entered the room to find his wife on the couch with her legs propped up the arm rest, not waiting for an answer he sits himself beside her at the same time removing her legs off the armrest and placing them over his lap. Sakura blushed at the gesture, especially since he was touching her legs…well ankles but it was still her legs.

"What gave that away?" she mustered, not moving from her comfortable position, she was somewhat glad that she chose to wear something more casual for the day, a plain white tee and dark jeans. "Why are you so home early anyway?"

"Here." Syaoran answered, well sort of, as he handed her a Mothers Monthly magazine.

"You came home just to pick up a woman's magazine?!?."

"It's not for me it's for you, they were asking if they can have an interview with you and if they could take photos of you for this month's issue- it's all about step-mothers." Syaoran had paused, thinking that Sakura might want to have a word in, but when she didn't he was sure that he got her a bit interested. "It'll be tomorrow at 10:00 AM and since I knew you wouldn't be doing anything, I thought you might be interested…so are you?"

"Can I?"

"Why not? You're not busy are you?"

Hikaru only shook her head slowly, a bit unsure and surprised by Syaoran's gesture, Syaoran could only smile, her action reminded him of a kid who was given a reward by her parent for no apparent reason and is unsure if there was a catch. 'She is so childish.'

"They'll send in a limo for you tomorrow," He spoke breaking the silence as he helped Hikaru up as she studied the contents of the magazine. "Oh and have I told you that you will be their cover model for their next issue?"

"Really?! No way!" Hikaru screamed as she lunged for Syaoran and hugged him, "Oh Syaoran thank you, thank you! I can't wait for tomorrow!"

Syaoran was very much taken by surprise by her actions; no one has ever thanked him with a hug before, heck no one actually ever dared to touch her unless they were acting. 'Oh yeah, we are acting- as husband and wife.'

So he needed to act natural, so he tried his best to laugh and share in his wife's good fortune. But in spite of that fact Syaoran couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with their position on the couch, her body was pressed tightly against his, their legs intertwined, her arms around his neck and his arms supporting her nicely curved waist, her neck just beneath his nose that he could smell her perfume and it was enough to make him light-headed.

"Syaoran-sama you have a-oh excuse me," Wei called out as he entered the living room, but stopped at sight of the master and the mistress on the couch in a tight embrace. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"H-hoe? Oh! Sorry Syaoran…" Hikaru apologized immediately removing herself from her _husband's_ chest, and had the decency to hide her blushing face by lowering her head.

"I-it's alright Wei-san, I was just telling Hikaru about the magazine."

"Of course sir, Syaoran-sama you have a phone call from your mother, and she says to tell you that she's furious"

Syaoran cringed, "I guess I better take it in the room then. Sweetie," he calls out facing Hikaru, "I'll just get this one, okay?" And with that he took his leave but not before planting a chaste kiss on her cheek.

As Syaoran left the room, Hikaru was left with Wei, Sakura smiled at him. She knew that Wei was one of the few who knows about their little secret and somehow she felt happy that she didn't need to lie to him because she really liked Wei. And he was a friend to her and she didn't exactly like the idea of lying to a friend. It was nice to have someone who she felt her secret would be safe with, and she really liked his company because he always seemed so warm. He always looked at her warmly, and was always smiling.

"Wei-san? Why was Syaoran- um you know…a bit scared?"

Wei just laughed knowing the subject of the phone call, "It's nothing Hikaru-sama, it's just a mother-son thing." With that he winked, bowed and left.

Sakura just stayed there staring after the butler's back, "I don't get it…"

SsSsSsSsS

_RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG!!_

Sakura sleepily reached for the alarm clock's snooze button, it was already 5:40 AM. Although she knew that Syaoran was already downstairs she still checked beside her just in case he decided to sleep in, which he never did. Without a word she got out of bed and walked directly to the bathroom to wash her face, gargle and put on her contacts and then went back to bed. She didn't want anything like her second day to happen again.

Yukito seemed to have a habit of waking his mommy up, and unfortunately she had removed her contacts the other night. It was a good thing that the lights were a bit dim so he hadn't noticed. And ever since then Sakura made it a habit to wake up at 5:40 AM to put on her contacts and feign sleep for a few minutes so when Yukito wakes her up she'll have his mother's chocolate brown eyes.

It has become the couple's morning routine, 5:00 AM sharp Syaoran would get up and start on his daily exercise, after all a famous actor like him needs to stay in top shape at all times, right? And at 5:40 Sakura would get up do her morning routine and put on her disguise and wait for Yukito to bounce in their bedroom, jump on her and wake her up with a big kiss on her cheek.

Looking at her bedside table she was surprised to see how time had seem to passed quickly, and returned to her fake sleep. '3…2…1'

But instead of a loud cry of "Ohayo" accompanied by a loud banging of the door once it hits the wall, she was slightly surprised to hear the door creaking silently open, but she kept still keeping up her act. Completely unaware that she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.

Because as it seemed her wonderful husband and cute son had devised a devious way of waking her up, the two boys padded the room silently, the water guns armed and aimed at the poor innocent _sleeping_ victim on the bed.

Her only warning, a loud battle cry: "ATTACK!!!"

Hikaru was woken from her fake sleep by wet thick liquid splashing all over her body and face, the two attackers were merciless. But Hikaru was not easily defeated, she was used to these things, she had been trained by the best fighters in all of Japan: Touya and Eriol.

Her training kicking in she immediately hid underneath the white comforter and cried.

Yup, she cried.

Loud.

The two stopped immediately.

"Hey sweetie, don't tell me you're really crying? We were just playing with you." Syaoran comforted carefully approaching the lump on the bed, he hadn't expected for Sakura to cry, he thought she had a good sense of humor so he had expected she'd do something to retaliate not cry! 'Maybe it was a bad idea to use the tomato sauce…'

"Playing? Well I didn't like it one bit! You even used tomato sauce and now my hair is ruined! It's going to smell like that for the whole day, maybe even a WEEK!" she cried out from under the covers. "And I have a photo shoot today! And my hair's ruined, I can't go there smelling like this!"

"H-hey it'll wash out! We can't cancel that's today; you gave them your word!"

"No it won't! Cancel the photo shoot! And I only agreed but I never promised anything!"

"Well what am I suppose to say, huh: 'Sorry my wife can't come she says she smells like tomatoes and doesn't want to come out from under the covers'?"

"How about, 'sorry but my incompetent self along with my son had chosen this day to attack her with tomato sauce using water guns and she can't come out because she's allergic to them and her entire face is already swelling'?"

'Allergic? She was allergic to tomatoes?' Immediately Syaoran felt as if he got punched in his stomach, it seems that he really had gone overboard with his prank and he felt horrible.

His guilt was slightly cut off when the lump had released a loud cry, "My face is swelling, and I smell like tomatoes… sob …I'm repulsive!"

All throughout the exchange Yukito only stood at the end of the bed, watching his parents argue. His gray eyes had looked apologetic, he never wanted to make his mommy cry, but his daddy had convinced him that it was going to be fun and that mommy would enjoy it. And now that his mommy was crying he felt scared that she might get mad at them! He had to do something!

Immediately he ran over to his mommy's huddled figure and embraced her tightly, his gray eyes tearing up in fear that his mommy was mad and it was his fault. "I'm sorry mommy, daddy made me do it!"

Syaoran sweat dropped. 'Traitor.'

"I promise I won't ever do it again! I'm sorry mommy, I love you so much!"

Hikaru only sniffled, her head peeking out to look at her son's apologetic face. Slowly she reached out her hand to wipe his tears, but her hand never got there because she immediately reached for his gun and started firing at Syaoran then at Yukito.

"Ahhhh! You cheated!" Yukito cried out, laughing as he got his other gun and started firing back. Syaoran did the same, it was two against one.

But remember, Sakura was trained for this kind of combat, she immediately grabbed the pillow threw it at Syaoran to distract him and lunged for Yukito. Once Yukito was in her possession she immediately aimed the gun at Yukito's plump cheek. "Don't shoot or Yuki here gets it!"

But instead of panicking, the toddler started laughing, he was enjoying this! To which Hikaru corrected him for. "Yuki-kun, you're not suppose to be happy, you're a hostage."

The boy nodded with a cute pout on his lips, as he thought of how he should act. Yukito tried to wiggle his way out and started to think of how he would act in such a situation- then he thought since he hated tomatoes, and though he was already covered by the stuff, he didn't want anymore. Drawing his emotions from that idea he whined. "Noooooooooooooo!"

It seems that acting was in his blood for Syaoran was so convinced that halted keeping his eye on his wife and son; any sudden movements might spell his son's doom- or at least for his clothes. "Alright, alright, you win…just don't hurt my baby!"

"Okay, put down your gun and kick it over here."

Syaoran did as he was told, the water gun however didn't reach Hikaru, for the kick was only light enough for the gun to reach only halfway. His eyes kept going from Hikaru to the gun. He was going to jump!

But as it seems that his wife saw it coming and had already lunged for it, surprisingly even with Yukito's added weight she was still faster. The moment his hand made contact with the gun, she immediately stepped on him and her gun aimed at Syaoran's hair!

'Crap!' was the only word that entered his mind when he saw her smiling wickedly at him.

"Hehehe…okay, fine I give up, you win." Syaoran sighed, as he pulled his hand away but Hikaru still kept her foot on it not letting him go. Syaoran only looked up, his eyes begging for release, but Hikaru's equally brown eyes told him that it was far from over and it scared him.

"C-c'mon, you win…you don't have to do this! I have a shooting later!"

"Well- you should've thought about that before attacking me!" With a smile she turned to Yukito and gave him a sweet kiss. "And you thought I would attack Yuki here…so what do you think Yukito, should I give it to daddy?"

"Yeah!" Yukito exclaimed, clapping his hand in excitement, betraying his father for the second time that day. He was so happy for no one had ever beaten his daddy at this game except for his mommy, and he was proud of it.

Hikaru only smiled and open-fired.

Wei was pleased with the breakfast he had laid out for the happy family, everyone could hear the laughter and screams from the master bedroom- their joyous sounds had filled the entire mansion, and it lifted everyone's heart.

Meiling was already at the table, though she lived in an apartment she always went to Syaoran's mansion for breakfast. A paper in hand, a PDA in the other and was currently talking with the costume designer with her headset and a smile on her lips as Syaoran's scream echoed throughout the hall.

When they heard footsteps enter the room Meiling looked up from her paper, and the Wei along with the attendants turned towards the direction of the sound and they all froze at the sight in front of them. The Li family entered the room all covered in some weird red concoction, their hair obviously sticky, and their noses were immediately assaulted by the smell of tomato sauce?

Sakura-with Yukito in her arms- was the first to enter, she had a smug smile plastered all over her stained face and Yukito had a proud smile on his cute baby lips. Syaoran had entered next with his usual cold look, the look he uses to intimidate others around him and it would have worked if he didn't look the way he did. For Syaoran had entered with more sauce than the first two, sauce was dripping all over his face and his chocolate-brown hair had turned to fiery red.

_Snort!_

Syaoran immediately turned a sharp glare towards the sound, it was his sister. He gritted, everyone was trying their best to keep their face straight not wanting to anger him. But no matter how hard they tried, the room immediately burst into laughter.

Syaoran sighed, he was embarrassed, annoyed and sticky all over, and they were all laughing at him! They were all laughing at his expense! But when Syaoran had stood up abruptly, the entire room was silenced, they were all expecting a scolding- even Yukito and Hikaru cringed and had closed both their eyes. But none came, instead what came out of the master's lips was: "I'm going to take a shower."

He left the room quietly, his head up, after all he still had his pride. Or whatever was left of it…if something was left. And as soon as he had exited, the entire room had erupted into another round of laughter, louder than first. He could even hear Yukito congratulate his mommy.

"Gee mommy, you were ruthless!"

Syaoran only smirked and walked on, "I'm going to get you back…Sakura."

SsSsSsSsSsS

Hikaru was currently sitting across Iwamoto Megumi, who was conducting the interview. While she answered the simple questions, which Meiling had coached her for earlier , she couldn't help but feel conscious. Sure she was able to remove the smell, thanks to three long hours of hard scrubbing and one entire bottle of lavender oil. But her skin was somewhat irritated thanks to the rubbing and though she stopped smelling like a tomato she was as red as one.

"I couldn't help but notice…you have a very attractive tan? How did you get that? Tan in a bottle or did you get that from a tanning salon?" Megumi interrupted, truly admiring Hikaru's color.

"Oh-um well it's my own."

"Oh really? What did you use?"

"Oh it's basically just tomatoes." She answered, with a sweat drop 'Lots and lots of tomatoes.'

"Really? I didn't know that tomatoes can actually be used directly…" she replied as she continued to admire Hikaru's tan.

"Oh yeah, but I used tomato sauce…and it's really good for the skin because it makes it smoother and you can absorb the vitamins and minerals through the skin so it's very healthy as well[1" She answered, gliding her finger over her skin to prove its smoothness, which Megumi did also and was yet again amazed.

"All right, so tell me did Yukito have a hard time with the idea of you being his new mom? I mean after all I think it's a common reaction for children who gets a step-parent… "

Hikaru shifter her position from the chair, thinking about her past experiences with Yukito. "Well, I think it's different with my case, because Yukito is still very young so he really doesn't have much memory of his late mom and at that time he really wanted to have a mother. So it really wasn't hard for Yukito to adjust to me and accept me as his mother."

"I see, so do you find it hard to be a step-mom?"

"Well I can tell you that no one ever prepared me for it, so yes it was pretty hard. When you become a step-mom you really need to know a lot about your kid, favorite food, allergies, hobbies- and you need to devote all your attention to them. And for step-moms sometimes you're only given a short time to take all this information in, because you weren't there for them during their first years to learn about those things- so it feels like you're making up for lost time.

And they really, really need to feel that they are loved and that you will always be there for them because at first they get this notion that you might leave them suddenly. I remember, for at least the first month Yukito would constantly get nightmares about me leaving him. But after a while it gradually fades."

"Did you ever have to deal with the typical step-mom problems?"

"You mean like rejection or feeling like you're intruding the family?" Hikaru cleared, to which Megumi only nodded.

"No, Yukito was very open to me. But I really have to say that I admire those women who have faced it and had overcome it. I know it's really hard to make a connection, and sometimes the child doesn't want to, because they feel like you're probably replacing their mother, but those step-moms still stuck to it anyway. And I guess when the child feels like they can find a friend in you, and then they won't feel threatened and will gradually open up to you."

Megumi nodded, as she turned to the last question of the interview. "Okay so we're about to end, what is the best advice you can give to step-mothers out there?"

"Ah…well to just be patient, and to love your child as openly as you can without any reservation. And to remember that no one can become a perfect family in an instant, it really takes a lot of time, a lot of hard work and lots of love."

Megumi could only nod and smile, "Thank you so much Hikaru-san, we really appreciate you sharing your time with us."

The two ended the interview with a handshake, and a little while later Hikaru was sent over to hair and make-up for the pictorials.

An hour later Hikaru was working the camera, or rather the camera was working her, either way she felt really conscious with the camera not knowing how to pose or how to execute what the photographer is telling her to do.

"I'm so sorry…it's just that I'm not so used to this…"

"It's alright Hikaru-san, all you need to do is just to relax, okay let's try this again. Just lean on the wall and look at the camera, don't smile and don't pout, just look at me with an icy kind of look, okay? Okay, okay there you got it."

Immediately the photographer started clicking away now that Hikaru had relaxed a bit, but right after a few shots she had started feeling a little bit unsure once again after all he was only taking one pose. So she moved, and the photographer stopped and the entire crew stopped, the entire shot was ruined.

"How about a break?" Meiling suggested to everyone, to which they all agreed to. As Sakura got closer to her she handed the poor girl a napkin and a glass of water. "Are you okay? It can get really stressful…"

"I know, I never knew that modeling could be so hard! I mean it's completely different from taking normal pictures with your family and friends, huh?"

"Yeah, but don't worry…you'll get the hang of it."

"Thanks." She replied dabbing the napkin on her face careful not to ruin her make-up. She had to admit she was really scared, she really didn't know what to do and she didn't want to waste everyone's time either.

Sakura looked around her, who would have thought that a girl like her would ever experience something like this? Modeling, interview and of course first-class treatment and everyone knew her. But unfortunately, everyone was a bit frustrated with her- she could feel it from the silence of the room. The photographer was seated in his chair, massaging his temples; Sakura sweat dropped at the sight. She almost wanted to go over there and apologize. Almost.

But as Li's wife she's not allowed to do that, at least that's what Meiling says. Syaoran is known for the fact that he's always perfect, his shots are always perfect, his delivery and his pose. The Li's are all about perfection, and if a person is perfect, then there is no room for mistakes and when there are no mistakes then an apology will not be needed. And now that Hikaru is a Li, mistakes are no longer an option and apologies are a no-no, she now had a name to live up to.

Talk about pressure.

"Mommy!" a loud voice cut through the silence of the room, everyone turned to the direction of the voice which came from none other than Li Yukito. And of course Yukito couldn't have come by himself; in his arms was favorite stuffed bear, Mr. Brom-brom- and was currently on the shoulders of his father, Li Syaoran.

"Yuki!" she called out, running to greet her husband and son with a quick kiss on the cheek each; which the photographer was also smart enough to take. While Hikaru busied herself with the young toddler, Syaoran approached Meiling.

"What's taking so long? I thought she'd be done by now…"

"Well Hikaru's feeling a bit conscious in front of the camera. She's rather stiff; do you think you can give her some advice or something?"

"I'll see what I can do." Syaoran then returned to Hikaru, he took Yukito down from her arms. "Yuki, daddy needs to talk to mommy right now, why don't you go to your auntie for a while?"

"Okie!" he answered cutely, running off to his aunt.

While he was running Sakura took note of Yukito's outfit, he was wearing a sailor's suit complete with a sailor's hat. 'Kawaii.'

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

But instead of answering her question he only pressed his lips against hers lightly, but it only took a few seconds for the kiss to turn intense, passionate. He was crushing her lips against his, pulling her so tightly against him as if he was melding their bodies into one, his hands lost somewhere in her auburn waves.

The kiss had shocked her, she immediately resisted at first knowing full well that everyone was probably already watching them and the more she resisted the tighter his arms got around her- he was somewhat crushing her. But as she leaned into the kiss, she felt her body go soft, her knees buckled that she had to hold onto Syaoran's suit to keep her balance, her head was spinning, swimming and her lips was burning, his kiss was burning her, intoxicating her, drowning her.

They were both very comfortable with their current position, they were both lost in the fiery dance of their kiss and they loved it. But the need for air became persistent, and Syaoran had to release Sakura.

"W-what was that for?" she asked a bit breathless, Syaoran's face was still a few centimeters away and her eyes traveled down to those sinful lips.

Syaoran was also looking at Sakura's kissable lips, it was so close, and it was so easy to just reclaim, he wanted to do it again and again. "It's supposed to help you relax. Are you relaxed now?"

"Y-yeah…th-thanks…"

The couple parted only to find that everyone had apparently gathered for the show, Hikaru could only blush at the crowd while Syaoran only smiled and planted a soft kiss on her forehead then walked to sit beside Meiling.

"All right everyone, show's over! Get back to work!" The director shouted. Everyone took their positions, and Hikaru had returned to her position in front of the camera more relaxed than ever.

Just as he expected it to be, Hikaru was finally able to get the hang of it and was no longer feeling uncomfortable in front of the camera. Yukito was sitting on his lap watching his mommy move from one pose to another.

"Wow, mommy's so beautiful."

"Hai…"

Yukito watched as her dress and her hair moved according to the wind provided by the fan, and when Hikaru's eyes met his and smiled at him the young snow rabbit felt something in him jump. Something calling onto him and without knowing it he slowly got off his father's lap and walked to get a closer look.

Hikaru had kept her loving gaze on Yukito and she had smiled at him as he moved closer, but stopped once he was beside the photographer. And without any warning he ran towards his mommy and jumped to embrace her, Hikaru though taken by surprise immediately caught him and planted a kiss on her cheek. Yukito giggled as he hugged and kissed his mommy back.

Syaoran had panicked at first and was about to retrieve his son and was ready to apologize for his son's interruption. Sure that little "Li's don't apologize" rule can be easily bent when it comes to his son; after all he was still young. But before once he got closer the photographer had stopped him, apparently he was still taking pictures of them.

"Go ahead, join in…it looks good."

Syaoran only nodded as he joined his wife and son, kissing the both of them. It was somewhat a strange moment, Yukito was being all cute and playful with them, and somehow they felt like a normal family just having fun with each other. Not a pretend family who's having a photo shoot in a studio.

'It's a bit nostalgic…' Syaoran thought as he watched the two sit down to play with Yuki's bear. Syaoran however was awoken from his thoughts when he heard Hikaru call out his name.

At the moment Yukito was sitting on his mother's lap while she was holding the bear up to Syaoran as if handing the bear to him, "Syaoran, look."

All of a sudden a memory flashed in front of his eyes.

_They were on a garden, a younger Yukito nested in his mother's lap and Amaya was wearing a white sun dress, with a white hat that was covering her eyes from view. She was looking up at Syaoran and she was handing him a bear-the bear that she made for him when they first started dating._

"_Syaoran, look! I fixed him!"_

"_Yes, you did a great job." He praised, he sat as he reached for the bear and gave her a kiss on the lips. "It's perfect, just like you."_

_Amaya only lowered her head at the compliment, she would always get embarrassed whenever Syaoran complimented her. After a few quiet minutes, she spoke up, "I wish we can be like this forever…a happy family."_

"Syaoran-kun?"

"Daddy?"

Syaoran opened turned only to realize that he had blanked out and the two had been calling him to get his attention. "Oh-um sorry…something just came into mind."

When the photographer didn't reply, Syaoran took this as the photographer's way to ask if he could share what it was that came into his mind. "I was thinking if maybe you could take a family picture? Not for the magazine, for us to keep…"

The girls could be heard 'aaaaww-ing', the photographer nodded and he told some of the crew to bring a couch in for the family to sit on for their first formal family picture. Yukito was sitting on both Syaoran's and Sakura's lap with Mr. Brom-brom tucked in his arms.

And surprisingly, caught up in the joyful spirit of the moment, the photographer had a change of attitude. "Okay everyone, say cheese!"

_CLICK!_

As they got home, Hikaru tucked the sleeping Yukito in his bed while Syaoran headed to their room. Turning the dim lights on, he walked towards his dresser where a lone picture stood in the middle, it was framed with a simple silver frame. The picture was of him and Amaya, Amaya was carrying baby Yukito in her arms while Syaoran cooed at the baby with a stuffed bear in his hand.

Syaoran placed a hand on his chest where a similar picture as the one in the frame was kept hidden. He took an empty, silver frame and placed the new picture in it and carefully placed it on the drawer.

He stood there his finger over Hikaru's figure, 'She really looks like her…so much like her…'

It hurt him; it felt so much like he was replacing her, substituting her with a girl that looks exactly like her! It was as if he was cheating himself, making himself believe that Sakura was Amaya, that Amaya never died, that they were the family they used to be. And no matter how wrong he knew it was, he decided he was going to keep it.

'Now, we can keep this perfect family…forever.' Syaoran thought.

**Author's Note: **Wow, I really seem to like pictures, don't I? Oh well, I hope you enjoyed this, sorry it's a bit sad but it couldn't be helped. Anyway, please don't forget to leave a kind review on your way out, and thanks so much for your ongoing support and for sticking with me despite the fact that I always take a long time to update my fics.

This chapter is especially dedicated to my mom and to all the moms out there! Because I really think that they are the most sacrificial people out there, so you guys, appreciated your mom some more. Give her a little hug, a little kiss, and an "I love you" while you still can...

Thank you so much, I love you guys! Ja!

**[1 **I'm not really sure about this, if it's possible and all, I'm not a bio major- so um don't try this at home? (",)


	8. House Pest er Guest

Author's Note: Sorry I took so long to update

**Author's Note: **Sorry I took so long to update….I've had some problem with…well um…hehehe, my love life recently…

**Chibi Heero: **What problems? You don't even have a love life!

**Kawaii Authoress: **And that, my friend, IS the problem. Anyway all joking aside, I've taken too much time updating, so I won't be taking more of your time with my dallying.

**Chibi Heero:** Oo

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought'

**Chapter 8: House Pest…er…Guest**

Quietly, Syaoran entered through the front door, he was glad that Wei was no longer there waiting for him. He really hated troubling Wei's sleep just because he kept coming home late, and he knew that the butler needed to be awake much earlier than he did, so he told Wei to just stop waiting for him.

He continued to walk towards the kitchen, he was feeling rather hungry and was not at all surprised to find dinner- or breakfast if you were time conscious- waiting for him on the table. Sakura would usually leave him dinner, and all he would need to do was just heat it, but this time he walked past it. Not that he hated Sakura's cooking, on the contrary, he loved it- she really was a good cook. Which was why he was heading to the refrigerator where he was sure the cake was kept, he was excited to know what the flavor of the cake was, but when he got to the refrigerator a note on the door stopped him.

It read: "No dessert before dinner."

Syaoran sniggered, figuring the note was for Yukito, but as he opened the refrigerator a note was placed right beside the big chocolate cake, that said: "I meant you, Syaoran."

Syaoran sniggered again, it's not like she'll find out, so what if she guessed it correctly that he would eat the desserts first before eating his dinner, it's not like she'll know, after all she was already asleep. And with that in mind, Syaoran took the cake out, cut himself a slice, lifted the fork to his mouth and-

"Drop that cake right now, Li Syaoran."

Syaoran stopped his movements; the piece of cake right in front of his widely open mouth, light filled the spacious room as Sakura entered the kitchen with a smirk on her face.

'She's good.' He thought placing the fork down, giving his wife a very sheepish smile.

Sakura could only shake her head, while Syaoran continued to smile and move to the table, without a word she took the plate and reheated the food. The minutes passed in silence, but neither felt awkward with each other. It has already been a month and a half, and though they weren't really in what you would call a normal relationship, they were in some way, what you might call…a friendly relationship.

Right after placing the food in front of her "husband" he immediately started eating to avoid confrontation, to be honest he really wanted to eat the cake first, since it was placed right beside his dinner. He felt like Sakura was teasing him, but he knew she'll just scold him if he didn't eat his dinner first.

"You're just like Yukito." Sakura noted when she noticed the hesitation on the other side, she smiled at the childish side Syaoran was showing her.

At this Syaoran looked up from his plate, his mouth full, giving Sakura a curious gaze. "You're being a bad example to him, I'd always catch him trying to sneak into the cookie jar, or trying to eat the cake like you just did."

With a gulp of water to clear his mouth, the actor smiled sheepishly once more, it was true, "Even if I'm being a bad example at least he still eats everything he's told to eat; not picky, and he eats his vegetables, nothing can spoil his appetite. So I'm not that much of an influence to him at all."

"Nope you still are." She answered without sparing him a glance, if she did, she knew those puppy dog eyes would be facing her and she'd lose all resolve. Though it was much more effective with Yukito, Syaoran could work it just fine.

"And stop with the puppy dog eyes. Anyway don't worry, I've got no complaints with Yukito's eating habits, though he usually begs to eat the dessert first he still obeys to eat his meals first. I only said that because he really takes after you a lot."

"Actually he takes after his mother, the appetite I mean." Syaoran answered removing the puppy dog eyes from his victim; he didn't need the puppy dog eyes anymore now that he was finished. "And mother was really very strict with Yukito's eating habits, she doesn't allow him to eat any dessert unless he finishes his dinner, but it doesn't mean he doesn't try." With a smile he moved on to the next course: DESSERT.

Sakura could only sigh as she watched Syaoran eat the delicious triple-chocolate cake; she realized that this time was as good as any to tell him the reason why she had been waiting for him. She needed to tell him as soon as possible, or risk having him find out about everything tomorrow morning and probably throw a fit and they couldn't have that; it was better for him to find out now, from her, and throw a fit there.

"Speaking of your mother…she just arrived this afternoon."

Syaoran choked. Quickly Sakura handed him his glass of water to help him swallow the dessert while thumping Syaoran's back to help him breathe.

"And you just let her in!" Syaoran scolded when he finally regained his composure.

"Well what do you expect me to do? Kick her out? She's your mother!"

"That's the point! She's MY mother!" He reasoned as he got up from his chair so he could better maintain eye contact with Sakura.

"You should have made an excuse that there's an epidemic going on in this house, you should have said any-mmph!" Syaoran glared at the offending palm on his mouth, he wasn't done speaking yet! He had a lot to say!

"Would you keep it down? I don't see what's wrong with letting your mother stay here."

With a gruff, Syaoran shoved the hand away from his mouth, "I'll tell you what's wrong! She'll find out that we're lying to her and she could blow the entire plan! In case you forgot this isn't a real marriage, and my mother will not stand for such a deception! There's a reason why we never told her!"

"So you think she'll see though our charade?" Sakura gasped realizing Syaoran's fear, and soon sharing it. What would happen if Syaoran's mother finds out the truth? Would she leak it to the media? That would ruin her! Not to mention her family will be so angry with her for the deceiving them as well!

"I'm positive. Does Mei Ling know?" He asked as he loosened his hold on her, and taking his seat once again as he regained his calm.

"Yes, she was here with me when your mother arrived."

"Did she say anything to you?"

"No. She just asked for a room, and went straight in there and I haven't seen her ever since."

With a burdened sigh Syaoran leaned back into his chair, his head tilted back as rubbed his palms over his face in hopes to relieve his stress. "I'm not going to eat anymore, I lost my appetite. We'll just deal with this tomorrow."

With a nod, Sakura moved to clear the table. She didn't know what to think! Because of her their entire plan might be ruined! Everything they've worked hard for will disappear in a snap! It was all her fault.

Crap!

Noticing Sakura's distress, the other simply got up and walked behind her frame. Sakura jumped when she felt a heavy press on her hand, turning to see what it was, but instead she comes face to face with Syaoran who had to lower his head due to their height difference. He had his palm over her head, and she could practically feel Syaoran's warmth radiating from his body, all she could hear was heart beating so loud that she worried that Syaoran could hear it too.

'He's so close…'

She needed to look away, look at something else aside for the handsome face that was right in front of her. No matter how close she pressed her face on his posters, those could never compare to the real thing. They couldn't copy those chocolate-brown eyes, and his nice strong jaw- she has never seen Syaoran this close before. He was so close she could even smell the faint trace of his cologne.

'Oh crap he's getting closer! Is he going to kiss me?'

It's not like she wasn't used to it, they've kissed a lot of times, and mostly in public but they've kissed plenty of times for her not to be nervous, right? No. Because she had every symptom of someone who was nervous, palms sweating, heart racing, mind blank. This is it!

'Just close your eyes and act natural.'

She told herself as she calmed herself for the incoming kiss, after all there was nothing to be nervous about- it was just a kiss. Their first kiss shared in private, a kiss that wasn't for show. Could it be her first real kiss? Closing her emerald eyes, she leans forward and waits for her first _real _kiss.

But it never came.

What came though was a harsh hair ruffling from the other's palm that was already on her head! Pushing the offending hand away, Sakura could only glare at him and give him her angry pout that she copied from Yukito.

"Hahaha! I'm sorry I yelled at you, I panicked. It wasn't your fault, so don't worry about it. You did the right thing by welcoming her, the proper thing that she must've expected from her daughter-in-law." And with a kiss on her forehead Sakura was finally reassured, somehow the act made her remember her older brother, Touya. He would always ruffle her hair like that, and when she gets mad at him he would always give her a kiss on the nose to make amends.

"I'm going to bed." He proclaims and heads into their room without another word.

Sakura watched his back leave with a smile. She never thought she could get this comfortable with someone, especially with another guy, and even more with her big time crush! But all famous people aren't really that different she guessed, and even someone like Syaoran who always had a cool exterior could also have a naughty side as well.

Over the months she's learned so much about them, and has come to feel as if she was already part of the family, and she was no longer feeling nervous around them. She was no longer a stranger, and getting into her mother role was no longer so hard when she really loved Yukito like she would her own son. And even though some of the things they do are an act, she never once faked her feelings towards them. Because they were a family now.

In fact she was so at home with them that she has finally stopped her snoring. Yes, she explained to Syaoran that her snoring was only an outcome of her nervousness, but now that she has settled in he no longer had to deal with that anymore. Sure, Syaoran teased that he would miss it, and had kept going on about how loud she snored that it could have woken up the neighbors, but it was all ceased when she declared that she wouldn't cook his meals for the entire week.

'He really likes my cooking.' She smiled, and that's when she noticed that the cake on the table was missing! The half-eaten slice was there, but the rest was gone!

"Hoe?!"

SsSsSsSsS

**2:00AM**

…was the time indicated by his bedside clock in big bold red numbers. Currently Sakura or Hikaru was enjoying a peaceful sleep, while Syaoran was not. And well he just didn't think it was fair that one of them was able to sleep properly when the other wasn't due to the problem caused by the former. So, what was a sleepless husband to do?

Simple. Wake his wife up so they both stay awake in complete misery. After all isn't that what marriage is all about?

"Sakura, Sakura…Oi, wake up." He whispered assisted with shaking her shoulder violently. "I said wake up."

"Huh? W-what? Yuki?"

"No, Syaoran."

"Syaoran? What is it? Is something wrong?" She asked as she sleepily rubbed her eyes and got up.

"Yeah…I can't sleep."

"So you woke me up, because you can't sleep?" Sakura asked bewildered at the reason she was given. With a disapproving head-shake Sakura returns to lie down and go back to sleep.

"Hey! No fair! If I can't sleep, you shouldn't sleep as well!"

"What? Do you even know how crazy you sound right now?"

"But I can't sleep."

"Yes, I think we've already established that, and it's probably because you ate all that cake. Anyway I'm going to sleep and you should to, you have to leave early tomorrow for your shoot."

There was a pregnant pause, and Sakura felt the bed shift underneath her. She turned to see that the other occupant was sitting on the side of the bed, his head lowered and resting in his palms.

"I think I'm going to cancel my shoot for a while."

"What? Why?" The news seemed to have woken her up for she too had gotten up and crawled over to his side to sit beside him and run her palm up and down his back in an effort to soothe him.

"My mom's here, we don't know what she's doing here but I'm sure I can't leave you alone here with her with no one to protect you."

"Protect me? I don't need protection, it's not like she's a killer of some sort." She laughs.

He snickers. "In her other life…she was."

Sakura froze.

Looking up, he shifts so that he could face Sakura, "Listen, with her here we can't slip up! We have to be twice as careful, she's very insightful, and so we must always be on guard."

With a grin and a nod, Sakura agreed. "Don't worry Syaoran, I won't fail you. I'll be the best actress I can be for you, the best mother for Yukito, and the best daughter-in-law for your mother."

Syaoran laughed at that, he knew he was putting a rather big pressure on Sakura, but he was thankful that she took them all with grace. She didn't complain, she just did it the best she could. And he appreciated that. He could see in her emerald eyes the determination that he always knew was there.

He never told her, and he had no plans of telling her at all, but he appreciated her strength. Because he found strength to continue their little charade from her, it wasn't easy to be an actor more than the movies and theaters required of him, but thanks to this auburn-haired girl he was able to last. He found all the strength he needed to survive another day in her eyes.

'Green eyes.'

Her eyes; he loved looking at those green eyes. Not only because it was his favorite color, but because her eyes were the only thing that showed him her true emotions. If she was mad somehow they seemed darker and when she was happy they were brighter. Or perhaps he was just imagining it, but that's really what he saw in those eyes. It was the only thing that couldn't pretend. It was such a shame that they had to hide it behind contacts though.

Her eyes were the only thing that told her apart from Amaya.

"You're right. I'm sure you can handle her. You're strong." He whispers, slowly wounding his fingers into hers and pulling her close to him.

'Her eyes are the only thing that keeps me from thinking that she IS my Amaya.'

And he missed her so much. He missed holding her this close to him; he missed the smell of her shampoo, the feel of her skin, the sound of her voice. Everyday, each time he looked at Sakura he would think that she was Amaya, but then he'd hear her voice, or see those green eyes. He'd see things that cruelly reminded him that this woman was not his wife. Because his wife is dead.

Unconsciously, his grip on Sakura's lithe form tightens, pressing her face deeper into his chest. He missed having someone to hold on to, and Sakura was the closest he got to Amaya. Somehow whenever he would hold her, and close his eyes he could make believe that it was indeed Amaya in his arms. So everything he missed about Amaya, he would usually look for in Sakura, because Sakura was very much like her.

"But not her." He whispers softly to himself.

Because unlike Sakura, Amaya was a good liar; Sakura can fake a smile but her eyes would easily show that she wasn't happy. She can momentarily pretend to be angry, but soon a burst of joy would just pop in her eyes and soon the sound of laughter would follow suit. But not Amaya, there were times when Amaya's smiles and laughter looked so real, that no one could have known that she was in pain.

Yes, he knew that there were times when her smiles and laughter were only masks. Amaya may have hidden it so well, that no one could see. He only knew that she was hurting, because he was the one that caused it.

Syaoran scolded himself for thinking of such sad memories when he was trying to get some sleep. Shaking his head to rid himself of his previous thoughts, he turns to see that the clock told him that his thinking had apparently taken him a good one hour.

"Well…I guess we better get some sleep." As he said this he looks down expecting the other to look up at him, smile and agree. Instead he saw her all cuddled up and has probably been asleep for a long time. And he was starting to feel his shirt getting wet.

With a soft laugh, he carefully lays the sleeping girl on her side of the bed, and very carefully removes his shirt and uses the dry area of the cloth to wipe the sticky substance off his chest. But instead of going back to bed with Sakura, he gets up to leave the room instead.

As quietly as possible he sneaks into his son's bedroom, and there on the bed amidst a bundle of teddy bears and purple comforter he spots a bundle of gray hair that could only belong to his son. With quick, soft steps he stands beside the bed, his strong arms carry the toddler to rock him carefully, while humming the lullaby his mother used to hum to get him to sleep.

Syaoran smirked when he saw s trail of drool coming out his small mouth, shaking his head he wipes the saliva with the boy's own blanket.

'Like mother, like son I guess.'

Balancing the boy in his one arm he lifts little Yukito as he goes about to fix the boy's bed. Once he was sure the boy's stuffed toys would not suffocate him, he carefully tucks his small chubby body into the bed and sets himself beside his son. Planting a kiss on his soft rosy cheek he whispers a gentle 'good night' and sleeps beside his son like he used to do whenever he was afraid.

But now, Yukito no longer cried for him because he was no longer left alone in the house and in the dark. Now Yukito had his mother, to take care of him, to play with him, to watch over him, and to love him. Yukito no longer looked to him for everything. No, he wasn't jealous because when Yukito gained a mother, he gained a wife. Nights weren't so lonely anymore.

And now with his mother here, he hoped that things could still remain the same. Now, he had every reason to make sure their cover doesn't get blown, because somehow Sakura was already family to them all. And he was going to make sure it stays that way.

Sakura awoke early as usual, but instead of doing their usual morning routine of waiting for Yukito to wake her up, she immediately headed to prepare breakfast for her mother-in-law. She figured that a delicious breakfast just might win her mother-in-law's heart. Truth be told, she wished that Syaoran had stayed to introduce her to his mother and well to do the introductions, the answering of questions, but she was never much of a coward. Besides, she figured, Syaoran was just exaggerating, right?

Having convinced herself, she allowed herself to focus on cooking her famous, scrambled eggs, pancakes and octopus wieners. In a matter of minutes the kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma. Hearing footsteps from behind she figured it was Nikki with Yukito in tow.

"Hey Nikki, breakfast will be ready in a minute." She greeted without looking behind to confirm if it was indeed Nikki. And when she heard the response she wished that she had checked to see.

"It's good that you're the one who prepares Yukito's food. It would just be so un-motherly of you if you don't."

"Mrs. Li!" She cries turning to the older woman, her body going stiff under her cool gaze. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you. Good morning, I'm, uh-I'm Hikaru."

"Don't you think it's weird to be introducing yourself now, months after your marriage, to your own mother-in-law? She replied, her eyes maintained its piercing glare. "It wouldn't be so uncomfortable to introduce yourself to me, if Syaoran had introduced you to me when you first started going out. Tell me why did you keep your relationship a secret? Was he embarrassed of you?"

"Uh-well-uhm…No, he wasn't embarrassed of me. We just didn't want to paparazzi to stick their noses in our business." Sakura gulped when Yelan didn't seem to be pleased with her answer, so she opted to change the subject before she asked any more questions. "I made breakfast, mother."

At the word _mother_ Yelan's eyes turned into slits and she walked closer to her prey. With only mere inches between them, Yelan was looking down at the girl with her graceful height. "Let me make this clear. I do not like you. I never approved of you before Syaoran's wedding to you, because I never knew of you. So I don't approve of you now, and I don't recognize your wedding to my son. In paper you may be his wife, but you are not my daughter. So you have no right to call me mother. At all."

Somehow, at that exact moment from the way Yelan had looked in her eyes, she felt as if her life was in danger. And her conversation with Syaoran earlier just wouldn't stop ringing in her head.

"_Protect me? I don't need protection, it's not like she's a killer of some sort." She laughs._

"_In her other life…she was."_

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

The smoke alarm was still ignored because the two occupants of the kitchen couldn't care less about the waffle getting burned to a crisp. The other was too angry and the other too scared to move or even look away.

"Mama, what's taking-" Yukito's cry and entrance was halted by the sight of the other woman looking down on his mommy. "Grandma!"

In an instant Yelan's expressions changed from her threatening face, to a loving warm smile as she turned to greet her beloved grandson. Yukito immediately jumped into the tall woman's arms, and was carried out by his grandmother into the dining area. But Yelan stopped just as she reached the door, her cold eyes once again turned towards Sakura.

"I suggest that you do your best to not disappoint me, and maybe I might consider giving you my approval. But I assure you- you'll have to go through hell before any of that happens."

The last thing Sakura heard were the swishing of silk on the floor as her mother-in-law and son left. And once the mouse was sure the cat was gone, she was finally able to breathe in relief.

'How long have I been holding it in?' And once she regained all bodily functions, which was earlier put on hold by Yelan-sama's magical stare, she finally recognized the incessant beeping of the smoke alarm and the faint smell of something burning.

"AAAaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! My pancakes!"

Once the breakfast fiasco was settled, Sakura had served the salvaged food to her waiting family. As usual she sat beside Yukito, who instantly latched his arms around his mother.

"Good morning, mama!"

"Good morning to you too, sweetie. How's my little Yuki?" She cooed as she nuzzled her nose against his small one earning a small giggle.

"Mommy, stop that. I'm fine…and I'm hungry."

Nodding, she slices the waffles into small pieces and was about to feed a piece into his awaiting mouth when Yelan slammed her hand on the table. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I-I-uhm…well I'm feeding him."

"Yes I can see that. You're treating him like a baby when clearly he is not. Let him feed himself."

Without a word, Hikaru played the dutiful daughter-in-law and obeyed Yelan's instructions. She set down the spoon, and sat on the opposite side of the table, across Yukito. And seeing her son's sad look caused her heart to ache, she rather liked babying Yukito and Yukito liked it as well since he missed out on it for a while.

Breakfast continued in silence, along with their entire morning routine, such as cleaning the bedroom and getting ready for school. Yelan made sure to keep a stern eye over the two making sure that Hikaru did not baby Yukito and that Yukito didn't act like a child and did everything he was told to do.

For the first time ever since the arrival of his mother, Yukito left home with a sad pout. He had to shower by himself and he didn't get to splash around with his mom, he had to get dressed and prepare his own things. He didn't even get a good-bye kiss, nuzzle and hug!

Once the car was out of sight, Hikaru felt Yelan's gaze on her intensify, and all the hair on her neck that were already standing on edge were joined by her the hairs on her head. "I will be in the library. I do not wish to be disturbed."

Sakura crawled into her bed; the stress of dealing with Syaoran's mother was really taking a toll on her and it was only 10:00AM! Thinking that a nap could help ease her nerves a bit, she removed her contacts and went to sleep. But the moment she closed her now green eyes did Yelan's piercing gaze appear in her mind.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura cried as she bolted up from her bed, sighing she sat up. "Don't those eyes ever take a break? Sheesh it's like she's watching me even in my sleep."

Realizing that she probably wouldn't be able to sleep, she promptly got up, put on her contacts and went into the kitchen. She was just going to have to win her mother's approval the old fashioned way.

Indeed, Hikaru found her mother-in-law in the library reading a book. She was a bit surprised to find the woman sitting with her back straightened and not slouched like most people tend to do. Every movement she made had a dignified air to them, even the way she flipped to the next page had a dignified manner.

Quietly, and as meekly as she could she approached, and on the table in front of her set a small plate with fortune cookies in them. "I thought I'd make you something to snack on."

Yelan only lifted her gaze from the book to look at the food, then at Hikaru's beaming face then returned to whatever it was she was reading. "How quaint, my daughter-in-law is trying to win my approval by baking me Chinese Fortune cookies. Don't you think that's a little bit cliché?"

"Uh-I-uhm thought you might want s-something that reminds you of home."

Yelan closed her book with a snap, and turned to give Hikaru a cold smile. "If you really wanted to win my approval you should have made me some xiu mai or xiu pao. Not ORDER me some Chinese snack from a restaurant and claim it as your own."

To prove her point, Yelan picks up one of the cookies and breaks it in half revealing a small fortune paper. "Or did you bother to print out these as well? And my lucky numbers are: 08-12-21-23-26."

The two remained in awkward silence, Hikaru's smile was still plastered to hide the fact that she was caught in her cheap trick and was absolutely mortified. Maybe she thought she could smile her way through this one. And apparently, Yelan thought otherwise, as she hardened her gaze.

"And what's wrong with ordering you some cookies?" A gruff voice from the doorway interrupted. Hikaru sighed in relief at the sight of Syaoran, she was safe now. Syaoran approached, grabbed a cookie and gave his wife a rather long kiss on the lips. Yelan lowered her eyes at the public display.

The moment their lips parted Syaoran turned to his mother, popped the cookie in his mouth and said, "At least she was being hospitable and even went out of her way to buy you these cookies."

"I don't like her at all, she isn't even Chinese! She doesn't even know how to cook Chinese cuisine, and I bet she can't understand our language and know absolutely nothing about our traditions either!" She huffed rising from seat so that she could level her gaze at her only son.

"Mother I never took you for a racist."

Huffing at the accusation, and at the audacity of her own son, "I am NOT a racist! I simply want a daughter-in-law who can- and you-how dare you question me? I just want to make sure that you chose a suitable wife, and from the way you're acting towards me it is clear that you have NOT chosen well!"

"It's not for you to decide if the wife I choose is fit for me, you're not the one she's going to marry! I don't need her to be perfect according to your standards; she's perfect enough for me!"

"How dare you raise your voice at me?!"

"Stop!" Hikaru cried, standing in between the two bickering adults, facing Syaoran she fixed him with an angry glare. "Syaoran, you're mother is right. You shouldn't have yelled at her like that, I know she just wants the best for you."

Then she turns to Yelan her expression serious and her eyes shone with resolve. "And Yelan-sama, I promise you that I will be the best daughter-in-law you will ever have. I will have your approval."

"Hikaru, you don't have to do this." The actor tried to reason from behind his wife, but his plea fell on deaf ears as his mother and his wife made negotiations.

"All right. I'll give you one week to make yourself a suitable wife for my son. If you can prove yourself worthy of my approval, I will accept your marriage to Xiao Lang, I'll even forgive the fact that it was kept secret from me, and I'll leave for Hong Kong as soon as possible."

"What do I have to do?" She questioned relieved at the offer Yelan was giving. If Yelan leaves then they won't have to worry about their secret being uncovered.

"I have my own requirements, my own expectations to what my son's wife should be. I will test you based on my standards, you should prepare yourself for everything."

With a sigh Syaoran just turned to leave, there was no point in trying to convince Sakura out of this. She was making a deal with someone she should have never made a deal with, but he also knew that no man must ever come between two women battling. It just wasn't safe. Without saying anymore, since he knew he would just be ignored, he left the room. But before the door closed behind him he heard Sakura's unwavering voice.

"I will not disappoint you."

SsSsSsSsS

"I am so screwed."

Syaoran looked up from his script, and tried his best to hold his laughter at seeing his cute wife…screwed. Said cute wife was currently surrounded by different books on proper etiquette, Chinese customs, and Chinese cuisines and sported a look of utter confusion as she went from one book to another.

Hearing the faint sound of snorting, Sakura turned to look up from her research materials and gave Syaoran the hardest glare she could muster. But her frazzled appearance and her flying pig pajamas only diminished the desired effect into a full blown laughter from her not-so-supportive husband.

"This is not funny!"

"Yes, it is! Do you really think that you can learn to be a suitable wife just by reading all those books?"

"Then why don't you help me?" She whined as she got up to move towards the bed. "Tell me exactly what will she test me on!"

"I don't know. I guess it will be like last time with Amaya, she was tested on responsibilities through tea making, grace through dancing, and intelligence by way of calligraphy and art appreciation." Syaoran offered as he left for the bathroom to brush his teeth.

And following him to the bathroom is his dutiful not-so-Chinese wife. "Amaya was tested as well? Did she pass them all?"

Syaoran doesn't answer and continue to brush his teeth, once done and he was sure that it was as clean as it could get he turns to her to flash his famous toothy grin. "How else do you think we got married? If she had failed a single one my mother wouldn't allow it."

"So if she had failed in just one category you wouldn't have gotten married? But that's so sad, you loved one another. I think it would be too painful for me, if I didn't get to be with the person I love just because I couldn't do one thing my mother-in-law would ask of me. There shouldn't be any test to decide if you can be with the person you love, I mean people who love one another should be allowed to be together!"

And in the middle of her rant for love, Syaoran was already in his bed turning off his bedside lamp to go to sleep. "Good night"

But it seems that Sakura did not hear him at all for she still went on with her rant. "How in the world can I learn to do all those things in just one week? I should study more!"

However, sleeping is not easy if one's wife has once again started snoring. But this snoring was different. The snores from before, though loud was easy to ignore and he could still sleep comfortably without being disturbed by the sound. But this time it was more guttural, loud, deep and simply annoying.

Taking tips that he'd read from the internet about people who snore, Syaoran determined to push Sakura so she was lying on her side. The position would clear her air passage so that she wouldn't snore. But the article never met Sakura so the cases they sampled just didn't cover her situation and how she would react to being moved.

The moment Syaoran started pushing Sakura, Sakura started to demonstrate a fact that Syaoran apparently needed to know. The fact was that Sakura was a very strong woman who seems to have been influenced by wrestling during her younger years.

Because the next thing he knew he was on the floor, wide awake with a sprained arm and a bruised butt and a slightly damaged ego. Normally, one would get angry at this kind of situation, but he just couldn't do that, the impact of his landing seemed to have immobilized him. Though he did not want to stay there on the floor, he had no choice but to sleep there.

'Tomorrow…I swear…I'm going to have this carpeted.'

**7:00AM**

The sun rose in the sky, giving the dark morning sky a mixture of blue and orange. And Sakura woke up to note the beautiful day, surprisingly, despite yesterday's stressful events she was able to have a good and relaxing sleep. Getting out of bed, she was stopped in her actions when she noticed that she was stepping on what seemed to be human carpet.

"Hoe? Eeeeehhhh! Syaoran-kun what are you doing sleeping on the floor?"

But instead of answering her question, Syaoran had simply asked for Sakura to call Mei Ling.

"What for?" She asks as she helps her husband up from the floor to sit on the bed.

"Just do it. Besides you want me to help you, right?"

With a smile, Sakura immediately reached for the cordless phone and handed it to her husband who didn't seem to share her emotion. Thinking nothing of it, she headed to the shower, giving Syaoran privacy as he discussed business with his sister.

"So why are you so interested in helping her?" Mei Ling asks once she finished listing down Syaoran's instructions.

"Don't think too much about it, Mei. This is more for my own good than hers." He muttered as he rubbed his sore arm, thankful that neither Sakura nor Mei Ling could see his injury.

"Are you sure you're not just beginning to have a soft spot for your little wife?"

Syaoran had to bark a laugh at the 'little wife' comment, because though Sakura may be little, she has proven that she was not a weak one.

"Not so much of a soft spot, but a sore spot. You know that she snores when she's stressed, right? It seems that the volume of her snore is dependent in the intensity of her stress! I barely got any sleep at all! So just do what I tell you, okay?"

"Okay, okay, no need to lose sleep over it! HA! HA! Get it? Coz, you couldn't sleep-so I said- never mind."

A soft click and the phone conversation with his sister ended. Of course he wasn't going to tell her about Sakura _literally _throwing him off their bed; Mei Ling didn't need to know that bit of information. After all, he still had his manly pride to protect.

Hikaru came out of the shower all dressed in a simple white sun dress, her beautiful auburn hair pulled up in a simple pony tail. The color of her hair contrasting perfectly with her simple dress, and somehow Syaoran just couldn't pull his gaze away from the angel that was approaching him. Said angel, however, ruined the peaceful vision of Syaoran by jumping childishly on the bed right beside him. "So, what did you two talk about?"

"I figured if you want to win my mother's approval you should get someone to train you."

Hikaru only looked back in wonder at Syaoran's sudden interest in helping her, but nodded in appreciation. After all, if someone offered to help, there was no need to question the other's intention right? Syaoran had explained to her that for the next three days she would go through intensive training in everything a Chinese girl needs to know.

"I know what mother expects from a daughter-in-law and so we'll be ready for anything she'll test you on."

Because it sounded like fun, Sakura readily agreed without hearing any more details on what she needed to learn. After all, how hard can it be to be the perfect bride?

"Are you sure? There's no backing down, once you're in, you can't quit."

With a smile, Sakura walked up to her husband of 2 months, she was so close that he could see every single detail of her make-up and realized that she wasn't wearing her contacts yet. "Syaoran, you've asked me that question before, you should know by now, that I'm not a quitter. I won't fail. I told you, I'm going to be a good wife, and to be a good wife I must first be a good daughter to your mother."

Tugging at his dark blue pajama collar so that he saw her eye-to-eye, Sakura winked at him before wounding her arms around his neck to pull him in for a hug. Syaoran took that moment to breathe in the scent of lavender and vanilla that clung to her skin. Her soft, smooth lips brushed his ear, causing him to blush, softly whispering the words that made a shiver run through his spine. Though he guessed that it was the act and not the words that made him shiver.

"I can do this. Trust me."

Those green eyes, shone with excitement.

SsSsSsSsS

Inside the tea house Syaoran and Meiling were enjoying a nice hot cup of tea and delicious cakes that were prepared for them by the host. From their corner they watched as Hikaru received her training on the art of making tea. Both were dressed in beautiful silken qui paos, Sakura was dress in a simple white qui pao with gold leaf patterns, while her instructor wore blue with gold leaf patterns.

"The first thing you need to learn is how to properly make and pour tea, unlike the Japanese, the Chinese people prepare tea differently."

Hikaru sat across from Chiharu as she continued to teach the girl the art of making tea, but all her words were merely going in one ear and out the other. Because as of the moment Hikaru could feel her legs cramping from the sitting over her legs for over an hour.

"Now, Mrs. Li why don't we make the tea." Chiharu suggested in a very soft voice.

"Oh! I know how to do that! I always make tea at home!"

"Mrs. Li, please a proper lady must always act in a demure manner, and can only speak when given permission, also remember to always speak softly."

Muttering a soft apology Hikaru calmed down to prepare the tea, but seeing the ingredients on the table and realizing that she couldn't find the things she needed she was at a lost. "Huh? Where are the tea bags?"

Both Meiling and Syaoran could only sweatdrop.

"This is hopeless." Meiling could only nod in agreement at her brother's comment.

…

"You must always convey an air of grace, poise and dignity in everything you do. So for this exercise you must do the fan dance while balancing this clay pot over your head."

Syaoran had to hold back his laughter at the sight of Sakura balancing a clay pot over her head while copying Ms. Mizuki's dance steps and was obviously failing. He really wanted to laugh out loud, but it would just be to embarrassing he did have a reputation as an actor to uphold. In the public's eye he was always seen as a cool, calm and collected guy, guffawing at his wife just wouldn't help his image.

After short period of time though Sakura was getting the steps while keeping the pot on top of her head, though Syaoran did note that there was nothing graceful, poise or dignified in how she moved at all. Her back was hunched so she could balance the pot, and the way she held the fan seemed as if she found the object disgusting and her arms were raised very closely to her head. In other words Sakura was pretty much murdering the dance for the sake of not breaking the pot.

"Hikaru, do it with confidence. Straighten your back." Syaoran commanded. Sakura losing face was him losing face as well.

With a gulp Hikaru did as she was told, straightening her back and tying to do the dance with more confidence. But in one of the step Sakura's fought caught fire from a nearby candle! The fire quickly spread through the fan's material, the panic from both women made them drop both of their pots as they tried to step on the fire to kill it.

Unfortunately the fire caught in Sakura's silk! And with the poise of a woman whose dress was burning could acquire, Hikaru ran around the room with very small steps.

"AAAAAAAahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Kill it! Kill it!" Immediately Syaoran was at her side with a fire extinguisher, he aimed the nozzle at Sakura and released the foamy substance all over her.

With the fire dead and the entire dance room ruined, Syaoran looked at the foam covered Sakura in the middle of the mess, her make-up messed all over her face and her hair in complete disarray. This time Syaoran really let out his laugh, and he laughed as hard as he could. His reputation was long forgotten.

The only thing that could be heard was Syaoran's continuous apology while holding back his laughter as he followed an irate Sakura who left the room with as much grace, poise, and dignity that she could muster.

…

"One's handwriting is an extension of one's personality." Clow Reed, Hikaru's other teacher, explained as he wrote Hikaru's name on a piece of paper with fluid brush strokes. "Write clearly, and cleanly. Your strokes should be bold, do not hesitate, and make sure to hold the brush firmly yet lightly then let it caress the paper."

With an affirmative nod Hikaru set about to write her name, mimicking her teacher's posture and his manner and even the way his face scrunched as he wrote the characters. But it seems that she didn't mimic well enough, because the characters that she painted on the paper looked nothing, like the sample done by Clow. The strokes were uneven, and there were stray blotches of ink all over the paper and on the table. The kanji was completely unrecognizable.

"Perfect!" Clow exclaims. Syaoran, Meiling, and Hikaru gives the instructor an incredulous look for his comment, and to answer their questioning gazes he slowly picks up the piece of paper and presented it to them with a big smile.

"She's mastered abstract art!"

SsSsSsS

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Sakura reached for the alarm and pressed the OFF button without turning to look at the alarm. She was already awake, and she knew what time and day it was. It was the day. For an entire week she was trained on everything Yelan might test her on, in fact you could probably say that she was ready for anything. She really didn't know what she would have to do to gain her mother-in-law's approval and acceptance, but that was why she was trained in everything they could think of that Yelan might throw at her later. But despite receiving training from very notable masters in different fields Sakura couldn't deny that she was feeling nervous.

The fact that no one knew what Yelan was planning to do, leave them at a disadvantage. And she couldn't help but question if she truly was prepared. Sitting up on the bed Sakura lightly slapped both her cheeks as a punishment for her slight pessimism. After all, her father always told her to always stay positive.

'Okay! I'm positive I can do this! So get a grip and stop sulking!' After all a little self-pep-talk never did anyone any harm! Talking to oneself is pretty normal, as long as it was in the privacy of one's own home of course. And so, with a new found courage, despite still feeling tired from her intensive training, Sakura decided to greet the new day as she always did. With a smile and positive energy!

"Yeah I can do this! Whatever Yelan throws at me, I'm ready! I'm ready for anything!"

Well except for Yukito to bounce into her bed pushing a bouquet of pink and white carnations at her face while yelling, "Happy Mother's Day!"

And was followed by Syaoran carrying a tray of what she assumed to be breakfast. Syaoran laid the tray on the space on the bed beside Sakura, while she tried to process what was happening. With a smile Syaoran kisses the still stunned Sakura on the forehead and sits beside her.

"Happy Mother's Day, mommy." He teases as he takes a rose from the tray places it on the other's lap.

Yup, she really wasn't expecting it! The date left her mind! To think that this was her first Mother's day, and this was Yukito's first time to celebrate his mother as well. With a warm smile, she takes the flowers and pulls the boy into a warm hug.

"Thank you sweetie." She said as she littered his face with as many kisses as possible. 'So this is what it feels like. To have a day especially for you, to make you feel loved, a day that makes all your hard work worth it. So this is what it feels like to be a mom.'

She was going to do her best in the test, not because she wanted to prove to Yelan that she was a capable mother and wife worthy of her approval. No, she was going to do her best because she wanted to keep this family together, she wanted to stay with them.**1**

'There really is nothing to worry about, because I'm not alone.'

That morning Sakura decided to forget all of her worries about Yelan's test, because at that moment what was more important for her was to be with her new family who only wanted to make her feel special. With every moment spent with her husband and son, all her troubles, all tiredness she felt was slowly draining out of her body. This day, a day specifically for mother's like her felt even more wonderful than celebrating her birthday.

"I can't believe you all went through all this trouble for me." Sakura commented as she saw the beautiful breakfast that they made for her. It was a simple breakfast of waffles with strawberry and whipped cream, and fresh orange juice. She loved strawberries!

"It was worth it mommy, because we love you." Yukito murmured softly, feeling a bit worried that perhaps his mommy might not like the taste of the food.

"Go ahead sweetheart, try it. Yuki and I made that just for you." Syaoran added.

With a naughty smirk Sakura shook her head, and Yukito's eyes were soon filling with unshed tears. His mommy doesn't want to eat it! "I want Yuki to feed it to me."

At hearing those words Yuki smiled his biggest smile, it was so big that Sakura could see each of his baby teeth. Quickly Yuki set about to cutting the waffles, with Syaoran's assistance of course. "Here come's the choo choo train mommy, open wide!"

"Aaahh!" chewing the food slowly, Sakura smiled at the two who awaited her criticism.

"Do you like it mommy? Does it taste good?"

"Yes! Mommy loves it! It tastes sooooo good!" She answered as she pressed her nose against Yuki's nose lovingly.

"I love you mommy."

SsSsSsSsS

A soft knock sounded through the large bedroom, but Yelan did not answer. Instead she kept her place, looking out the window that led to the backyard garden; she knew full well that whoever it was would still enter even without her permission.

"Mother? I brought you some tea." Syaoran said as he entered the room, without waiting for her answer he set the hot drink down on the table. "I came to apologize for my rude behavior. And I wanted to greet you a happy mother's day as well."

Yelan turned to her only son, gracing him with one of her gentle smiles. Syaoran couldn't help but stare in awe, his mother may be old but she still looked beautiful. Her hair was still as black as before, long and graceful. It was as if time had been kind to her and allowed her to keep her beautiful appearance for a longer time. Slowly she walks over to the table to sit with her son. "Do you know what makes a mother proud Xiao Lang?"

Syaoran could only shake his head.

Yelan took her seat across from her son, taking a sip of her favorite jasmine tea. "A mother's pride comes from the achievements of her children, when they have successful careers and most of all when that child grows to have a happy family of their own. Because when they see their child living a contented life, then we know that we have done our job in properly raising them."

"I have all those things, and yet you still don't seem to be so proud of me." Syaoran answered, not really looking at his mother in the eyes. Because he knew that what he considered to be a successful and happy life was not what his mother saw to be a good life for him.

"Mothers cannot be proud of having a disobedient, rebellious son who has forgotten his heritage!" Yelan cried, standing up to tower over her son. "You disgraced me when you decided to become an actor and leave the family business that your father left you! And now you take in a wife that I have not even approved of, and you kept it a secret from me!"

"Because everything you wanted for me, was not what I wanted for myself! Every time I did what you told me to do, I lost a part of me, but when Amaya came- that was the last straw! Because of you, I hurt another person!"

"Amaya was a good wife, and a good mother."

"Yes, and I only married her in obedience to you! We gave you the son you wanted and that was all! We tried to make it a happy marriage, but it was never happy! It was never real! And Amaya died knowing that! You made me hurt her! She lived and died unhappy because of you!"

A resounding slap reverberated through the room, the silence only broken when a Chinese tea cup crashed onto the floor smashing it to pieces.

"Do not blame me for what happened to Amaya. You were the one that couldn't love her; you were the one who pretended. That was what hurt her that you pretended."

Syaoran didn't answer; instead he rose from his seat and lifted his gaze to his beautiful mother. And what she saw there broke her heart, because her proud and stoic son was crying.

"All my life I did everything you told me just so you could be proud of me, but it was never good enough. I was never good enough. When I was working for the company, despite the many praises I received you still thought I wasn't good enough. Everything I did was never good enough. And I was unhappy, because you were unhappy. But when I married Amaya and Yukito was born I felt as if I finally did something right, and I was able to make you proud of me. But the price for your happiness cost me and Amaya so much pain. We pretended to be happy, to be the perfect family for you."

Slowly Syaoran turned to leave, but stopped once he was at the door. His head still bowed so that his mother couldn't see that he was crying. Because she always told him that men do no cry.

"That was why I married Hikaru. Because she was nothing like the ideal wife that you always wanted to me to marry, she was someone I could be happy with, someone Yukito could be happy with. She never made such expectations of Yukito like you did with me! My family is going to be happy for real this time mother, we don't have to pretend anymore. And I don't even care if I live up to your expectations anymore. So if Hikaru doesn't pass any of your tests, I will be even happier, because that means I picked a good wife."

"You don't even love her." Yelan said her voice cold as steel. "I know why you married her. Because she looks so much like Amaya, you think that if you can love this girl, you'll be able to make up for the times that you never loved-"

"Stop it! This has nothing to do with Amaya! I married Hikaru because I love her! That's something you will never understand!"

Syaoran left the room, with his greatest act ever, everything he said were true except for one. But because he slipped a lie in between truths, the lie itself seems to be true as well. Li Syaoran was indeed a great actor.

Or a great liar.

…

"Well Hikaru are you ready?" Mei Ling asked.

Yelan had told them all to gather at the tea room, so they all figured that her test was to host a tea drinking ceremony. They were all dressed in their customary Chinese clothing; both Hikaru and Syaoran were wearing matching emerald green attire with a golden dragon spiraling upwards that reached their collars.

"I'm ready. I can do this." Hikaru answered. She was thankful for Syaoran's training, and though it was hard at first, she learned to master the art of making tea and pouring the tea. Hikaru stepped forward and knelt in front of the door and waited for Yelan to call her to enter. One by one she remembered Chiharu's instructions on how to properly brew tea.

_Boil water._

_Rinse the teapot with hot water._

_Fill the teapot with tea leaves up to one third of the height of the pot._

_Rinse the tea leaves by filling the pot with hot water up to half full and draining the water immediately leaving only tea leaves behind. (This step, and all subsequent steps involving pouring water, should be performed in a large bowl to catch any overflow.)_

_Pour more hot water into the teapot and pour water over the teapot in the large bowl. Bubbles should not be permitted to be formed in the teapot. The infusion should not be steeped for too long: 30 seconds is an appropriate maximum._

_Pour the first infusion into small serving cups within a minute by continuously moving the teapot around over the cups. Each cup of tea is expected to have the same flavour, aroma and colour. The nature of this procedure almost mandates the use of some form of drip tray to catch further spillage._

_Pour excess tea from the first infusion, and all tea from further infusions, into a second teapot after steeping. It is possible to draw five or six good infusions from a single pot of tea, but subsequent infusions must be extended somewhat in duration to extract maximum flavour: the second infusion extended by approximately ten seconds to 40 seconds, the third extended to 45, etc. _**2**

They waited in tense silence, but instead of getting a call to enter what they got was a flying wooden door as it was cut open by none other than the matriarch of the Li Clan.

Sakura could only stare in awe as Yelan wielded her weapon, a long Dao with a heavy blade, and pointed the blade to the stunned girl who was about to receive her test to win Yelan's approval.

"I will only accept you as Syaoran's wife if you can prove to me your strength. Fight me."

**Author's Note: **First of all just let me apologize for the year-long delay for the update. Please understand that I am a College student with my major in Writing so most of my time is spent on writing for my course requirements. Not to mention I've been having trouble contacting my beta, which would also explain why there are a lot of grammatical errors up there. Sorry. Yeah a Writing Major with bad grammar…sigh…how will I ever hope to pass?

**1 **I figured that there might be some confusion here, so let me just explain that if Sakura does not gain Yelan's approval it doesn't mean that Yelan would have her thrown out or void the marriage. Sakura just doesn't want to cause trouble between Syaoran and his mother, because a trouble with Yelan will just put strains on their fake marriage and might lead to their secret getting uncovered. So if she wins Yelan's approval, Yelan will stop scrutinizing the marriage, before she notices something fishy, and most likely go back to Hong Kong.

**2 **I got this information from Wikipedia under "Chinese Tea Culture"

**Special Review Reply**: This is also an answer, so don't anyone sue me about not using the review reply program because this person was an anonymous reviewer and the answer might help you understand this better.

Ummm the person reviewed this chapter under the name REVIEW:

Tea ceremony is not usually studied by Sakura who belong to a not-so-rich class, most people who want to learn this must belong to a family who practices it as recognition to their culture like really old families and those who are rich enough to pay for the instructor. Some modern day Japanese people don't usually learn this, but they do know how to conduct themselves during a ceremony but not how to host it, so it isn't uncommon for Sakura to not know how to properly brew tea. Also in the Japanese tea ceremony it's not just the brewing that I'm talking about but also the conduct and performance. Even if she knew how to host a Japanese tea ceremony, the Japanese tea ceremony is very much different from the Chinese tea ceremony which is what Yelan and Syaoran expect her to learn.


	9. The MotherinLaw

**Chapter 9: The Mother-in-Law**

"Enter."

With trembling fingers Sakura entered the room to where she was tasked to meet with Yelan, hesitantly she placed her hand over the handle but could not find the strength to actually hold it let alone to slide it open. She feared whatever may be on the other side of that door because if she failed the test everything she sacrificed will be in vain and even worse was that Yukito would lose a mom once again.

'Just a little more Sakura, reach out a bit further and just open the door!' She scolded herself as she tried to muster up the strength to go inside. She knew what she needed to do, but where can she find strength when she doesn't have any left inside of her?

But strength came to her in the form of another hand being placed over her palm and pushing it against the sliding doors. "Don't worry. I'm right here behind you, I won't let anything bad happen."

"Syaoran."

Syaoran only smiled back and with their intertwined hands pushed the sliding door open and—

"I've been waiting for you, Kinomoto Sakura."

In the middle of the empty tea room sat Yelan, all eyes maintained on her still form anticipating her next move and her test.

"I do not have a test for you." Before anyone could protest, Yelan immediately captured them with her freezing stare. "I will never accept you. Shadow!"

Upon her call the form of a hooded shadowed figure appeared before their eyes and immediately swept itself over towards Sakura. "Capture her soul and imprison her in your dark world!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

---

A piercing scream awoke Syaoran from his sleep only to find his pretend wife sitting upright beside him drenched in sweat. "What? What happened? Why were you screaming?"

"Syaoran, your mother! She said she doesn't have a test for me and that she'll never accept me! And then she summoned a shadow to imprison my soul!" Sakura squealed as she hurriedly got out from the bed and packing her bags.

"Sakura, Sakura what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm getting out of here before my soul gets captured!"

"You can't just leave!" He approached the small figure busily packing her bags and started taking out the clothes from her bag and returning them to her closet.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Tired and irate Syaoran really wanted to whack Sakura in the head but he didn't want any charges on spousal abuse either so he reigned in his emotions and thought of the best way to calm the frantic girl.

"Sakura, listen to me. You just had a nightmare. It's not real. My family doesn't have any shadow figures that we can summon, and we don't trap people's souls either."

"Really?"

"Yes. It's normal for you to get nightmares, my mother has a tendency to be really…scary sometimes."

"I guess…"

"Yes, yes, but she's really a nice person and she loves Yukito a lot. I doubt she'll ever do anything horrible to the woman that made her beloved grandson happy. Even if you fail her tests, I'm sure with Yukito pleading on your behalf nothing bad will happen to you."

Sakura nodded her head. Though she was still doubtful that things will turn out for the better, she still didn't want to embarrass herself and not get the approval of her mother-in-law. Even though it isn't for real she still wanted to leave a good impression.

"You're okay now, right? Do you think we can go back to sleep?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Let's sleep."

Relieved Syaoran immediately plopped himself on their bed falling asleep even before his head hit his pillow.

Unlike Syaoran, Sakura remained seated on the edge of the bed looking at Syaoran's sleeping figure. She was tired, but there was a fear in her heart that was making her uncomfortable and unable to return to sleep. It was as if she knew for sure that something bad will happen tomorrow.

---

That morning Sakura awoke to a very quiet household, but it was not the quiet that gives a peaceful feeling but rather a quiet that forebodes of a great disaster. She was not surprised to find Syaoran's side to be empty since he always got up early to exercise.

'Breakfast should be ready by now.' But despite the promise of a wonderful meal waiting for her downstairs she could not find her healthy appetite.

"Ugh! I need to calm down. I need a shower."

The hot water pounding on her skin massaging her tense shoulders and somehow releasing the cold feeling that was surrounding her earlier. She wanted to stay under the warm spray longer, but she needed to prepare herself for the test, and suddenly the memory of the test brought the tension and the cold feeling back into her body. The hot water no longer offering solace Sakura left the shower.

Her eyes scanned the room for the qi pao she hung the night before but her eyes had been drawn to the suitcase that was left on the floor with her clothes scattered all over it. 'If I leave now, I don't have to go through this. I'm not supposed to be the one that has to deal with this!'

Without a second thought she ran to the closet and continued packing her clothes. Carelessly, she stuffed them into her suitcase. "I'm just a normal girl, with a normal and peaceful life. I don't really have to go through this, I just have to go back and this will all be a thing of the past."

But no matter what she kept telling herself, despite the promise of returning to her normal life her leaving presented her she felt something that told her that she was not supposed to leave. Something was telling her to stop and stay.

But who?

"I'm not needed here." Sakura continued her packing but the sight of their family portrait above their drawers had stopped her.

---

Syaoran entered the dining area where Meiling and Yukito are happily eating their breakfast, especially Yukito who seemed to be on his 4th serving of waffles. "Syaoran! I can't believe you still have time to go jogging when you know that Hikaru will be having her test in—I don't know—half an hour!"

After giving his son a kiss and ruffling his hair, he sat down on the chair to eat his breakfast. "Relax Meiling, it's not like I take long to prepare myself. Has Hikaru eaten yet?"

"No, she didn't come down for breakfast. I thought maybe she was feeling nervous and that she might want some time to herself."

"Yeah, she was a bit shaken last night. I should probably go check on her."

Meiling continued drinking her tea, her eyes on the newspaper in front of her but not really reading the words on them. They were all so happy before their mother came and she hoped that against all odds they'd be able to go back to that happiness of a complete family.

She watched Yukito who was eating across from her finish his waffle and reach out for the another one.

"She's not here!"

"What?" Meiling watched as her brother came down the stairs still wearing his track suit. "Oh good I'm glad that still fits you, it will really go well with Hikaru's—"

"I don't have time for that!" Noticing Yukito watching them he pulls Meling closer and whispers to her ear, "Hikaru isn't here! She ran away!"

Panic filled her heart at the news, had Sakura really left them so quickly? "What are you talking about?"

"Her bag! She finished packing it and now she's not here."

"Relax! If you saw her bag that means she hasn't left yet! Maybe she just got lost."

"All right, I'll look for her. You and Yukito just get ready and I'll meet you at the tatami room."

Syaoran left to look all over the mansion while Meiling was left to watch Yukito who knew nothing of the troubling news continue eating his fifth serving. 'Sakura, would you really leave him like this? His heart cannot take the loss of two mothers…'

Finally the time has come to for Hikaru to meet with Yelan, but she was still nowhere to be found. Syaoran returned to Yukito's room where both his sister and son were waiting, "She's not here. I looked all over for her."

"What are we going to do?"

With an angry sigh Syaoran left the room to tell their mother that Hikaru was nowhere and probably even the truth behind Hikaru.

"Aunti Mei-mei, what's happening? Where's mommy? Is she still sleeping? Won't she be late?"

"No, baby…uhm… why don't we just go to the tatami room. Maybe mommy is there already…"

"Okay!"

Catching up with Syaoran, the three walked towards the tatami room. With a wifeless Syaoran and a young boy who still doesn't know that his mother has left him.

How were they going to deal with this situation?

"Mommy!" Yukito yelled as he released his hand from his aunt and ran towards his mother who was waiting outside the tatami room.

Hikaru turned at the shout facing the three and welcoming the youngest one in a warm embrace.

The sight of his son running towards Sakura's beautiful figure was enough to stop in his tracks. She had looked so beautiful in her emerald green silk qi pao she was wearing, and her hair gracefully tied in a bun and only her bangs hung loosely to frame her face.

"Hikaru, you're here early. For a moment there we thought you left us."

"I was." Hikaru answered not meeting their gaze.

"So why didn't you?" Syaoran asked his voice steely as he tried to hold the anger he felt at hearing her confession.

"Because Yukito needs me."

"Do you plan on just making me wait here?" Yelan's clear voice from behind the doors of the tatami room was enough to stop whatever words were about to come out of Syaoran's lips. Suddenly they were all reminded of the reason as to why they were all there and what needs to be done.

"Well Hikaru are you ready?" Mei Ling asked.

They were all dressed in their customary Chinese clothing; both Hikaru and Syaoran were wearing matching emerald green attire with a golden dragon spiraling upwards that reached their collars.

"I'm ready. I can do this." Hikaru answered.

But before Sakura could even open the door to the tatami room the two sliding doors were sliced in half and in front of them they saw Yelan with a guan dao in her hand and the blade pointed at Hikaru.

"Prove to me your worth! Fight me!"

Without waiting for her answer Yelan once again attacked at Hikaru.

"Mommy!" Yukito yelled in fear at the sight of his grandmother attacking his mother.

But instead of getting wounded Sakura immediately evaded the attack by simply stepping to the side. And not giving her mother-in-law a chance to prepare herself, grabbed the guan dao by the staff and used it as a lever to jump herself into the tatami room.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Syaoran shouted.

But he was simply ignored as Yelan chased after the other who was now inside the "battling" area. "If you step inside this room or help her at all she will immediately be disqualified."

"Wait!" Hikaru cried stopping the other from attacking. "Don't I get a weapon?"

"Use whatever weapon you can find in this room to defeat me, but you can only use one."

Scanning the room, but still maintaining her guard, she found the weapon that she considered suitable for this fight.

"What are you doing? Get the sword!" Syaoran scolded at seeing Hikaru choosing the bo staff.

And as usual Syaoran's voice never made it to either one's ears as they greeted one another.

Yelan was the first to attack striking her weapon at Hikaru while Hikaru blocked each of them with her staff.

"You can't block forever!"

"My son is right, Hikaru. How do you plan on winning—"

Taking the moment while Yelan was speaking Sakura throws her bo and while Yelan was distracted with blocking the bo she failed to notice Sakura who ran towards her sweeping her leg at Yelan's feet causing the woman to tumble. The fall caused Yelan to drop her weapon. Hikaru immediately reaches for her staff and pushes the guan dao further from Yelan's reach.

Before she could attack, Yelan grabs Hikaru by her dress causing her to fall on the ground as well. In a matter of seconds Yelan was on top of Sakura as she forced the bo across Hikaru's neck while Hikaru tried to keep the staff by pushing it towards Yelan.

With their strengths evenly matched it was hard to tell how either could win, one moment of weakness from any of the two would give the other one an immediate advantage and the victory. But neither could wait for the other to weaken, their only hope was to somehow be able to find a way to gain an upper-hand without letting go of the bo.

'I can't lose.' Sakura thought to herself. Her arms were hurting, and she knew that if they kept this up the bo will end up breaking her neck. She needed some source of strength to push the other woman off her.

Just then Yelan pushed harder and the bo was definitely, though lightly, pressing against her neck. A little harder and she would be unable to breathe!

"Mother, stop it!" Meiling begged as she continued to hold the frantic Yukito in her arms.

'Sakura, come on! Push! Ugh! I should have eaten breakfast!' She reasoned to herself scolding her weakness. She needed to win this for Yukito.

Yelan had once again pushed the bo harder against Hikaru's neck, this time successfully cutting of the girl's air. She leaned in closer and to her ear, whispered, "I know everything. Kinomoto Sakura."

Her eyes widened at the sound of her name coming from the other woman. Suddenly, now even her identity has been discovered and endangered. Immediately she twisted her upper body with enough force to push the other woman to the floor and reverse their earlier position.

But instead of strangling her opponent, she lifted the bo and with a forceful shout thrust the bo at the tatami mat mere inches beside Yelan's head.

Yelan did not even blink at the attack, her eyes was maintained on the girl in on top of her who was currently panting from the exertion. No one in the room moved and only Sakura's heavy breathing could be heard.

"Did-did I pass?"

And in a clear, unwavering voice, Yelan gave her answer."Very good. You pass."

SsSsSsS

"Mommy was so cool! She flew into the air—"

Everyone listened intently to Yukito's version of the fight despite all of them witnessing it for themselves.

"You really scared me there, Hikaru. I never knew you know how to fight."

Hikaru gave Meiling a sheepish smile, "Oh, my brother trained me…I never knew that your mother would challenge me to a fight either, this way I didn't have to go through that training."

"It wasn't a total waste." Yelan interrupted, causing everyone to be silent and ceasing the jubilation in the room. "Now, now there's no need to be so formal. Have I not already accepted her as my daughter? Go on, please continue."

As they were told, everyone continued with their celebration of a new mistress in the house. "As the new Lady of the House you also needed such training."

"Mother, I must ask you, why did you prepare such a dangerous test for Hikaru? If she had not received any training in martial arts she would not have been able to defend herself and she could have been seriously hurt."

"Syaoran, the test was like that because I wanted to see how intelligent, dependable, strong and graceful she is. Doing separate tests for each is just too tiresome and all of these things can be tested through combat. And with one look at her I could tell she knew how to fight."

Hikaru offered a sheepish smile as she helped herself with another dumpling from Yuki's plate. "Hey!"

"Oh I'm sorry baby, here let me give you mine." Carefully Hikaru lifted the chopsticks at Yuki's mouth, but Yuki did not open his mouth to accept the food. Instead he looked to his grandmother with questioning eyes.

Yelan simply smiled and nodded her head at Yukito who immediately ate the dumpling once receiving his grandmother's approval.

"I'm really sorry for all the trouble I have caused you all which is why I must take my leave."

"Why so soon? At least wait until after dinner." Syaoran offered as there were still things he wished to discuss with his mother.

"Unfortunately I have to get back, there are a few things that needs my attending and I need to be back there real soon."

"Then let us walk you to the door." Hikaru offered as she set Yukito down from her lap.

"I'd love that." She answered opening her arms to Yukito as an invitation to be carried. Despite his weight Yelan was able to carry the boy in her arms without so much difficulty.

Syaoran followed holding Hikaru by the waist as they walked behind Yelan and Yukito. "Well, at least we survived this one."

Hikaru only nodded her head as she watched Yukito rub noses with his grandmother to say good-bye. "It's too bad we didn't get to spend much time together grandma."

"Don't worry, I'll be back to visit you soon."

She puts him down and gives Hikaru a smile before kissing both sides of her cheek, but stopping at the left to whisper into her ear."You have done well, I am proud to have as a daughter. And your secret is safe with me."

"Th-thank you." Hikaru answered with a blush on her face. Syaoran places a hand around her waist calling her attention to him and requested the two of them to go back inside.

"I still have something to say to mother."

Once they were alone, "My son, I don't get to say this often, but I am and always will be proud of you. I am sorry if there were times—"

"I'm sorry too. I hope that in your next visit, we won't be this distant. And about what I said…I- It wasn't your fault."

Yelan pulls Syaoran in a loving embrace, "I have already given my approval to Sakura, so when you decide to marry her for real I hope that you do. I only want you to be happy."

Syaoran remained still at what his mother had just revealed, "How did you—When? Who?"

"I'm still the matriarch of the Li households, so nothing goes on around everything without my complete knowledge. I'll come back soon."

With those parting words Yelan entered the awaiting car and left for the airport.

Once the initial shock had wavered, Syaoran turned to Wei who was dutifully waiting for him. With a smirk on his face, he walked towards his not-so-loyal butler. "You told her didn't you?"

"I never once told her anything, I swore to be silent about the whole thing."

Changing his tactics Syaoran tried again, "Did you write it down then?"

Wei paused as if weighing in his options, but it wouldn't be honorable to lie. "Yes sir."

A deep laugh echoed through the halls as Syaoran walked towards where everyone was still eating.

**Author's Note: **Hi everyone, here you go! I decided to put a "what happened the night before" in this chapter for more excitement. I hope you liked this one, I really had a hard time with the battle scene which is why it was that short. - ____ -

Sorry! I hope you liked it!

I'm really hoping it didn't suck much…

And yeah I know it's short^__^


	10. In the Moonlight

**Chapter 10: In the Moonlight**

"I'm home!" Touya cried from the entrance hallway but his greeting did not receive its usual energetic welcoming. "Guys? I said I'm home!"

"We're in the kitchen, honey!" Kaho called out in response. Touya headed for the kitchen to see what everyone was doing that was so important that they couldn't drop to give him a proper welcome.

Kaho met him half-way as she showed him what it was that they were busying themselves with. "Look sweetheart, Sakura has finally sent us a letter and pictures from France!"

Touya excitedly joined his family making sure to give his son a kiss, who still has not yet regarded his presence as he was still too busy eating. He took a seat at their kitchen table to look at the many pictures Sakura had sent them while listening to his father read about his baby sister's experiences.

"Sounds like she's having a wonderful time in France, huh Dad?" Touya asked. His father answered with a light nod and a proud look in his eyes as he browsed through more of the pictures.

"I wonder if she'll get a French boyfriend…" Kaho mused as she fiddled with one of the pictures of Sakura who appeared to be baking a cake, her working table filled with flour and various ingredients.

"No way! She's definitely not allowed to have any boyfriends while she's there! She's there to study, not to find a husband!"

"Oh Touya, don't be so strict. Besides, who said anything about a husband? I only said 'boyfriend' and I think it'd be nice if Sakura finally got herself one, don't you think so too Dad?"

"Well, I think it's fine. But I just wish we'd meet the person first." Fujitaka answered while clearing the plates. "Oh, sorry Touya. Did you want something to eat?"

"No, thanks Dad. I already ate." Touya's eyes then drifted to another picture of Sakura this time surrounded by her classmates. "I'm just glad she finally wrote to us, I was beginning to worry."

"She was probably busy with transitioning and making friends. You shouldn't worry too much, look at how much fun she's having." Kaho commented as she walked behind Touya to give him a welcoming embrace.

"Finally! I've been wondering when I was going to get my welcome home greeting!" Touya answered as he pulled his wife in for a quick kiss on the lips.

"Eeeww!" Eriol cried out from across the table, but the "disgusting" display didn't seem to affect his appetite as he continued to eat his ice cream.

"How do you think you got here?" Touya answered earning him a light slap on the shoulder from his wife.

The rest of the Kinomoto family continued to talk and banter in the kitchen as they browsed through Sakura's pictures, filling the house with its usual homey noise.

Meanwhile, on a further part of Japan in a large mansion known as the Li Household, two figures were in the living room spending all of their free time looking at the ceiling. Syaoran was currently on his day off and Yukito was already home from his pre-school. Now they were just laying on the newly polished floor of the living room with their heads pressed against each other. One of the maids had commented that they looked like a boomerang laying on the floor.

"Daddy, why does mommy need to go to school? Can't she just always stay here with us? Doesn't she want to be with us anymore?" Yukito's voice gave a slight crack at the thought. Syaoran immediately rolled on his belly and crawled a little bit forward so that his head was directly above his son's face.

"Of course she wants to be with us, but as a student Mommy has to go to school to study and learn things."

Yukito simply looked away with a pout on his face. Yukito has been going through separation anxieties every day ever since Sakura started attending her cooking classes, even though she only went to class in the mornings. But he had to admit that he missed Sakura's presence in the mansion as well and the joy it seems to bring all over their house. Without her, everything just seemed so quiet. Though he really felt apologetic to his son, he had promised to allow Sakura to get a college degree while working as Yukito's mother.

"What if she finds something there that she'll love more than me?" Yukito mumbled, dreading the thought.

"That's not possible. You're the most lovable person in the world Yukito."

"Really?"

"Really. But I really wish your mommy were here right now, then she'd cook something for us and then maybe we could watch a movie, or go to the park. I really picked the wrong day to go on a day off."

Sitting up with his legs crossed Syaoran could only sigh as he took Yukito and puts him in the space between his crossed legs and embrace him.

"I miss mommy."

It's already been such a long time since the deception has started and he was beginning to fear its end. If they were this depressed with Sakura leaving for only a few hours, how will they be able to handle Sakura leaving them permanently?

"I miss her more."

Syaoran disposed of those thoughts as quickly as he had formed them. It was never good to think about such things, they should just be enjoying what they had now and worry about the future later. He looked at the still pouting boy in his arms and a smile spread on his lips.

"Hey, Yukito, do you want to see what mommy's school is like?"

SsSsS

"Okay everyone, make sure to put the canapés in the oven for twelve minutes. Make sure that your oven is in the right temperature. While your canapés are cooking let's go on with the fudge pie."

The students did as told and they began preparing the ingredients for the fudge pie. Hikaru got the ingredients from the cabinet while her partner Dani washed their utensils.

"Enough of this already, when are we going to do the harder recipes?" Dani mutters while keeping her eyes on the utensils so as to avoid any accidents.

"I know what you mean but Chef Andre wants to make sure we clear the basics before we move to the harder recipes." Hikaru agreed as she placed the ingredients on their worktable.

Dani simply nodded as they began to follow the instructions on the board, "Well I'm just glad that next week we'll start on the garnish- oh Hikaru-chan, I think you have a visitor!"

Hikaru gave a questioning look to her lab partner who simply pointed at the door, from the small window in the door she was surprised to find Syaoran and Yukito waving at her. Hikaru gave a small wave back then glanced to see if their instructor has noticed the visitors. From the other side of the window Yukito blew his mommy a flying kiss which Hikaru returned.

"Mrs. Li, I don't know what's wrong with you but please stop sending random kisses to Ms. Kazeko." Hikaru turned to said classmate who only gave her a wink and flying kiss back, Hikaru didn't whether to smile, flinch or hide the shiver that ran down her spine.

"Ah no I wasn't…the kiss was meant for- and she was by the door." Mentally whacking herself for her answer she simply bowed in apology. "I'm sorry it won't happen again."

Mr. Andre raised an eyebrow in response then proceeded to assist any of the other students who were having a hard time with their recipe. As Hikaru raised her head she caught sight of her two visitors bowing their head in apology as well, Hikaru simply waved her hand at them and gave them a smile before returning to her work.

SsSsS

As soon as class ended Syaoran took his family to the college's park and on a picnic table they decided to sample the pie that Hikaru and her partner had been making.

"Mommy, we're choree we got ju in trouble." Yukito tried to say as he tried to eat more of the pie. He always did love his mother's cooking and his mommy always said she loved it whenever he ate them.

"That's okay Yuki. And don't talk while your mouth is full." She replied as she wiped the whipped cream around his lips. "So tell me, what are you guys doing here?"

"Yukito was missing you and was begging me to take him here."

"Nuh-uh! Dad was the one who wanted to come here! I was very behaved while waiting for mommy to come home."

"You were even crying and kicking—"

"Was not! You said you miss her – umph!" Hikaru watched in surprise as a big chunk of pie was shoved in Yukito's mouth. Yukito didn't seem to mind since he happily continued to munch on the pie, getting more cream on his face.

"I said I missed your cooking." He answered as he sat beside Hikaru who continued to eat her pie.

"I wasn't asking." Hikaru replied as she gave Yukito another slice and Yukito gave his mom a big hug in appreciation.

Syaoran continued to watch the two feeding each other, chatting and hugging from time to time. They were almost like a couple had it not been for the age gap. 'I'm feeling neglected.'

That night Sakura noticed that Syaoran was taking longer than usual in the shower and was beginning to wonder what was taking him so long. Normally Syaoran would be in and out of the bathroom so that he could squeeze in as much sleep in his schedule as he can. Thinking that he might take longer Sakura decided to turn off all the lights and get a head start to sleeping since one of them still needed to wake up early for tomorrow.

Just when sleep was finally about to take over the young woman Syaoran went out of the bathroom and quietly getting into the bed. Sakura felt the bed tilt at the added weight and her senses were immediately filled with the wonderful scent of a perfume that was surprisingly light for a male perfume. She may not know the name of the scent but it was definitely the first time Syaoran has used it and the scent was inviting her to move closer to the other body so she could smell it some more.

Very carefully, so as not to alert the other occupant, Sakura turned to face Syaoran so she could sneak closer to him but was stopped when she saw him looking directly at her.

"Hey." He whispered at her as he moved his body slightly closer to the other.

"Hey."

"I was thinking…what do you say we go out for dinner tomorrow night?" The question had taken Sakura by surprise and she couldn't help but stammer in her reply.

"What? Why? I mean wh-why so sudden?" She whispered back as she inched herself closer to Syaoran so that they were both in the middle of the bed. After all, it was getting harder for them to hear one another whispering when they were so far apart.

"Nothing, I just thought it's been so long since we've had time to ourselves. You know just the two of us." Syaoran answered immediately as he brushed his fingers across Sakura's hair, not because they were blocking her face but simply because he wanted to.

"Sure, but Yukito will be sad and –" A finger on her lips quickly silenced her protest.

"He'll be fine. You're always spending time with Yukito, and I rarely get a day off so I think I deserve some alone time with my wife."

Sakura could only nod her head.

"Great, I'll just meet you at the restaurant because I have a meeting with the director some time in the afternoon. I'll have the driver pick you up at around eight?"

"Okay, I'll be here by then." She answered with a nod.

"It's a date." Syaoran concluded with a satisfied smirk. Sakura had expected him to turn around to sleep but was surprised when instead of turning over Syaoran actually pulled her closer and very tightly wrapped an arm and leg around her.

"H-hoe! Wh-what are you doing?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm rather tired of getting punched, kicked and thrown out off my own bed and Wei told me that my father had this same problem with Mom and he solved it by using this technique on her. My dad called it the Koala Binding Hold."

Sakura couldn't really escape from the hold even if she wanted to and even when she knew that she could because she knew that her husband was right. She was well aware of her night habits of "attacking" people sleeping beside her, for Touya, Tomoyo and even her father have experienced waking up on the floor with bruises on them. The habit started ever since she and her brother started training in Wu Shu from their father's friend and he explained that the habit was just simply Sakura's way of integrating the lessons.

So for Syaoran's sake Sakura did not budge from the hold besides it wasn't such a constricting hold. On the contrary it was a rather comforting embrace and it gave her a good opportunity to bask in his wonderful newly-discovered perfume.

"Good night, Sakura."

"Hmmmm."

SsSsS

"Yukito-bocchama, please eat your dinner." Wei pleaded as Nikki tried to feed him another helping of soba but Yukito would have none of it and closed his mouth shut as he moved his head away from Nikki's chopsticks.

"No! How come daddy and mommy left me?"

"Because your daddy has been feeling neglected, since mommy is always with Yuki-kun" Meiling said as she entered the dining hall to join her nephew for dinner.

"But that's because mommy came here to spend time with me!" Nikki, seeing an opening, immediately pushed the noodles into his mouth. Instead of spitting the food out, Yukito actually slurped the rest into his mouth.

"True, but that doesn't mean your daddy wouldn't want to spend time with mommy."

Yukito pouted as he continued to feed himself. Wei and Nikki sighed in relief now that their young master was eating once again.

"Aww, don't worry Yuki-kun. After tonight, mommy's all yours again."

Yukito smiled at the thought and this time continued to eat with his usual vigor. Meiling smiled as she watched him happily slurping and she somewhat felt apologetic to Syaoran, 'Well, it seems like Syaoran will be lonely again once this night is over.'

SsSsS

As soon as Hikaru stepped out of the car she was immediately escorted by the maître d' of the restaurant to the table reserved for her. He seated her by the table set beside the window overlooking the beautiful landscape outside the restaurant. The moon was shining over the small pond that had lilies floating on it.

"Mr. Li has left a message saying that he will be late. Would you like to order ahead or would you prefer to wait for him?"

"I'll just wait for him, but could I please take a look at your menu?"

The maître d' nodded as he called one of his waiters to bring the menu, "This is monsieur John. He will be your waiter this evening, just call on him whenever you are ready to order."

Hikaru gave a nod and decided to browse the menu and was horrified to find that every item was in French. 'How am I going to know what I want to order if I can't read any of these let alone pronounce them?'

But she soon found items that were familiar to her from her cooking class as they were told the French names of some of the food that they will be learning. 'Well at least I'll be able to order something after all.'

Somewhere in the restaurant a happy couple has just received their order and the lady looked excitedly upon the delicious spread on their table. "Is this really alright, Yamazaki? Can you really pay for all of this?"

"Of course Chiharu, they gave me an advance for publishing my book."

'Yamazaki? Chiharu? Could it be?' Hikaru turned to look at the table across the hall and there she found her two friends from high school. Her first impulse was to go towards their table and greet them but then remembered that she was supposed to be in France! 'Oh please don't let them see me!'

Just then Chiharu had looked up and her eyes met with Hikaru's hazel brown eyes. Hikaru quickly covered her face with the menu and hoped that it was only her imagination that Chiharu had seen her looking at them. 'She's probably just looking at this direction.'

"Yamazaki, there's this weird lady who was looking at us weirdly."

Yamazaki turned to the direction of the lady that Chiharu mentioned, said lady still had her head buried in the menu, he shrugged and laughed, "Oh maybe she's just jealous that you have such a rich and handsome date."

'I doubt it.' Chiharu replied in her mind and continued eating; after all, how can anyone ignore a beautiful Herbed Braised Deer Fillet in front of her? But as she ate she would cast the lady a glance and catch her looking at them. "But I can't help but feeling that I've seen her somewhere before…"

'Whew! I don't think they can recognize me with my new look; even I didn't recognize myself.' She thought as she tried to distract herself while waiting for Syaoran and trying her best not to let her eyes wander towards Chiharu's table. She must not risk being discovered but she was finding it more difficult with Chiharu stealing glances at her table, and whenever she did Hikaru would always just hide behind the menu.

After a few minutes or so, Hikaru decided to escape into the powder room. Once she was inside she wondered how long she could stay in there or if it was possible to just cancel the entire date. But one look at her reflection made her disregard the latter choice. She was wearing a silk turquoise halter neck evening dress with understated crystals on the bustier just above the waist.

Meiling had surprised her that afternoon with the dress saying that Syaoran had ordered it for her, wanting to see her in the dress. Now that she was looking at herself she had to admit that the dress looked truly magnificent. Her long hair was pulled back in a loose side pony tail so that her curls were all falling on one side to show off her face.

Her hand caressed the side of her face admiring the beautiful lady reflected in the mirror. 'I don't look like myself.'

"Sakura would never wear anything this beautiful and would never look this amazing." She muttered to herself.

'That's because I'm not supposed to be Sakura. I am Hikaru Li, wife to Syaoran and mother to Yukito. I am not Sakura.' Remembering her character Hikaru walked out of the powder room relieved by her recent realization that there was no way that her friends would be able recognize her. 'I'm here to enjoy my date with my husband, who's late, and enjoy it I will.'

She returned to her seat but as she looked up she was surprised to find someone sitting on her table and eating a delicious looking meal that she didn't recognize. "H-Who are you and what are you doing in my table?"

The man sitting across from her had silver eyes and very long silver-white hair. He gave her a curious stare which was quickly replaced by a haughty smirk. "I believe you are the one who is in my table, Miss."

Hikaru turned to look at the table and around the restaurant and found that she was indeed the one in the wrong table. "Hm? Hoe! I'm so sorry for interrupting your dinner. Please, excuse me."

Just as she was about to stand up a hand over hers had stopped her. "But you are very welcome to join me."

"I'm sorry I can't. I already have a date, he's just very late."

"I see. Well, whoever your date is should know that he should never make a beautiful lady such as yourself wait for a long time." He pulls the hand in his hold up to lips and lightly presses a kiss on its knuckles. "I am Yue Tsukishiro."

"I'm Hikaru Li."

'Li?' Yue kept his gaze at the other figure who was fidgeting in her own chair and when he felt a slight tug at his hold he realized that he was already squeezing the other's hand. He kissed it again in apology before releasing it.

"I really should get back to my table." Hikaru said after the momentary silence that consumed them, Yue rose to help her out of her chair. He kept her in place for a while with his hands lightly on her shoulders.

"If your date cancels, please feel free to join me again."

"Thank you, but I don't think my husband will ditch me." She answered with a slight giggle, "It was nice meeting you again Mr. Tsukishiro."

Yue bowed, his eyes following Hikaru as she returned to her table but halfway back she was stopped by the arrival of her date. As soon as the face of her date came to sight Yue's eyes widened in surprise. 'It can't be.'

"Hikaru! I'm so sorry I'm late!" Syaoran apologized as he pulled his wife into an embrace ignoring the people around them he showered a trail of light kisses on his wife's shoulder up to her neck.

"Syaoran, stop that. It's embarrassing." Hikaru scolded pulling herself from the embrace and was about to head for the table when Syaoran stopped her again by holding onto her hand.

"Let me see you in that dress I picked out for you." The actor smiled approvingly at his wife, as he had expected she would look heavenly in the dress. "You look beautiful."

Hikaru only smiled at the compliment averting her eyes from Syaoran whose eyes seemed to be roaming all over her body. Suddenly she was reminded by the words of her very annoying older brother.

"_Listen Sakura, you must never and I mean never accept clothes from another man."_

"_Huh? Why not?"_

"_Because a man only has one objective when they dress up a woman that they like."_

She may have been too young to understand his words then, but seeing Syaoran right now made her understand everything. Although she'd like to think that Syaoran is a complete gentleman but he has been looking her up and down for a very long time. "Any longer and I think my dress will burn off."

Syaoran blushed at his companion's comment and led her to the table, "Sorry about that, it's just that I knew you'd be beautiful in the dress but I didn't expect you to look so captivating."

"Flattery won't get you that far."

Syaoran had to laugh at her response. He and Sakura have recently developed an odd comfortable friendship around one another. They needed to be physically comfortable with one another seeing as that they needed to hug and kiss often enough so as not to raise any suspicions but he had to admit that this is probably the first time that they flirted. Or rather he's flirting with her and she's playing hard to get.

"The night is still young, I think I can get myself far enough."

"We'll see."

The two of them proceeded to ordering and eating their dinner, talking about things that have happened around them so far.

As for another couple in the restaurant that evening, Chiharu had once again stolen a glance at the weird lady but this time she was surprised to find that she was no longer alone. She was even more surprised when she recognized the person in the table aside from the weird lady.

"Yamazaki, now I know why that woman seemed so familiar to me! She's the wife of Syaoran Li, the actor! Don't they look so cute together?"

Yamazaki turned to look at the direction that Chiharu indicated and saw that it was indeed the famous actor. He watched as Syaoran grabbed his wife's hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles but instead of letting go, he held on and continued to eat with only one hand.

"Yup, but I think the person in front of me is much cuter!"

Chiharu blushed at Yamazaki's forwardness. "There you go with your lies again."

"You're right! I'll stop lying right away." Yamazaki quickly called for their waiter to get them some dessert before Chiharu could say anything else. He had realized long ago that whenever his girlfriend gets into her murderous state it's always best to be surrounded with witnesses.

"So should we order some dessert?" Syaoran asked once everything has been cleared from their table.

"No thanks, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Okay then John, I'll just have a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and Hikaru, are you sure you don't want anything?"

Hikaru shook her head, "I'm really full and I think Yukito is probably missing us already."

"You know, I'm really beginning to get jealous." Hikaru looked up in surprised at Syaoran's words, "Aren't I your date? Therefore, you should only be thinking about me."

His eyes trained on Hikaru as he waited for her reply, but she didn't give any. In fact, Hikaru did her best not to look at his general direction as she tried to think of something else that they could talk about.

'Work? Weather? Maybe we can talk about the food, rate the service…that's a fun conversation topic, right?' She pondered while unconsciously chewing on her bottom lip.

Syaoran was surprised at the act because he had never seen this reaction from her before and he found it very amusing. Of course he pitied her and the silence between them was getting long enough to make even him feel uncomfortable, but he wasn't going to show her that. Besides, he had a good way of distracting himself.

Hikaru made the mistake of looking up at Syaoran hoping to change the topic with her question about his meal, but as their eyes met the other man simply raised an eyebrow at her expectantly. His entire expression was daring her to speak and she was very much tempted to speak even though she had no idea what it was that she was going to say. However, Hikaru was saved from having to give a response by the arrival of Syaoran's cheesecake.

'Whew! That cheesecake saved me! What was I supposed to say to that?' She thought as she watched Syaoran eat the cake. Watching him eat and looking at the dessert made her want to eat a piece of it as well. Just as she was about to ask for a piece she remembered an advice that Meiling gave her before she left.

"_Hikaru, my brother is really selfish. So when he offers for you to order make sure you order because he will not give you a single piece of his."_

"Hikaru, is something wrong?" Syaoran asked setting his fork down. "You were looking at me like you wanted to say something."

"Oh nothing, it was just that you were eating it so deliciously—"

"That it made you want to try it?" His date shook her head vigorously slightly embarrassed at being caught in the situation. Syaoran only smiled and dipped his fork into the cake and offered it to his wife. "Here you go."

"Is it okay?" Syaoran only smiled at pushed at the fork a little closer towards Hikaru who gladly accepted the offering. She was surprised by the lightness of the cheese cream and the delicious blend of the chocolate and raspberry. "It's good."

"It's my favorite dessert here. If you want we can share mine."

"You really don't mind?"

With a smile Syaoran simply pushed his plate into the center of the table while Hikaru decided to accept the offer with a happy heart.

SsSsS

"I'm really sorry that I ended up eating the entire cake though…" Hikaru sighed as they exited the car.

"I don't mind it. As long as you had fun." Syaoran answered as he leaned on their car. He had parked it close enough to the entrance so that they wouldn't have to walk that far since they were both tired.

"I did, thank you." Hikaru searched her bag for the keys as she walked towards the mansion. "I'm sure everyone's already asleep…"

"Ne, Sakura." Sakura stopped in her tracks at the mention of her real name after so long a time of always being called Hikaru. "I really don't like it when people eat anything from my plate, did you know that?"

Sakura only nodded slightly fearful that she might get a scolding, maybe he only pretended not to mind it in the restaurant because there were other people. She couldn't help taking a step back when Syaoran started walking towards her.

"So, aren't you wondering why I let you eat some of my cake?"

"Uhm, because you were full?"

Syaoran smiled at the offered answer as he continued to advance towards her, he stopped once he was in front of her. Holding Sakura's gaze, he raised his hand and slowly caressed the side of Sakura's cheek. "Because, I was hoping to trade it for something better."

Syaoran quickly lowered himself to press his lips on Sakura's, his hand on her cheek moving to the back on her neck while the other wrapped itself around her waist to press her closer to him. Syaoran was even more surprised when Sakura actually kissed him back. The kiss consumed them, and unlike their usual chaste kisses this was much more different.

'Yep, this is definitely better.'

SsSsS

Yue stood by the window in his study as he gazed at the full moon outside, a glass of wine in his hand. His eyes were drawn to a magazine on the table which was opened to the page of Hikaru's interview. "So you've remarried, huh, Syaoran?"

Raising his wine glass to the moon and with a smile pressed on his lips he whispered a small word of thanks for the wonderful present his return has brought him. "This will be very interesting."

**Author's Note:**

Yes, I'm alive. I'm really sorry for the long update and I hope that this chapter was able to make up for it. I 'd also like to take this opportunity to inform you that I now have a new beta!

Her name's Jin, so you can thank her for helping me make this chapter more organized because she helps to keep me in check especially when I go crazy with my ideas sometimes. Complaints may be directed to her as well. XD

Again, thank you for your patience.


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